Laurel and the Phoenix
by Cold Canary
Summary: Disclaimer: We don't own Arrow, Flash or Legends of Tomorrow. AU in which neither Laurel or Leonard die. Inspired by Not Just a Nerd's story 'The Rogues and The Canaries', which you should totally go read because it's an amazing story. This story is co-written with temari80.
1. So It Begins

Laurel and the Phoenix

Chapter 1: So It Begins

 **Summary:** Sara and Leonard are getting married and ask Laurel and Mick to be the maid of honor and best man. They didn't expect them to develop romantic feelings for each other.

 **Disclaimer:** We don't own Arrow, Flash or Legends of Tomorrow. AU in which neither Laurel or Leonard die. Inspired by Not Just a Nerd's story 'The Rogues and The Canaries'. This story is co-written with temari80.

Despite all of the fighting and broken hearts shared between her and Laurel, Sara always knew that when she eventually got married, that Laurel would be her maid of honor. Or matron of honor if Laurel got married first, of course. So when Leonard Snart proposed to her, and Sara accepted, she immediately called Laurel and told her the news, and asked her sister to be her right hand woman at her wedding. Laurel happily took the role, but that didn't mean that she was thrilled with her baby sister's choice of groom.

Laurel's uncertainty about Leonard deepened gravely when she met the man that would be Leonard's best man: Michael "Mick" Rory. Mick apparently had a thing for fire. And it wasn't until after finding out about Mick's fascination with fire that Laurel found out about Leonard's fascination with ice. It also didn't help that Laurel had a nagging feeling that she had heard the names Snart and Rory before. Upon doing some research, Laurel was furious that Sara hadn't told her about both men's criminal pasts. But what could she do? Her sister was happy, and Laurel had to be happy about that, right? She also knew that Sara could hold her own, so if either Leonard or Mick crossed her, Sara would put them in check, so Laurel put her professional feelings about this whole thing on the back burner and was there for her sister.

As it turned out, Sara and Laurel's mom, Dinah, and their step-mom, Donna, were the ones that were planning the wedding, but Laurel and Sara were there for every decision so that the wedding turned out to be the one that Sara wanted, and not some gaudy event that didn't fit Sara or Leonard's tastes or personalities. But after every meeting with Dinah and Donna, Sara would drag Laurel to lunch, or dinner, or some kind of meal date with Leonard and Mick, forcing Laurel and Mick to get to know each other. Laurel went along begrudgingly just so that she kept a smile on Sara's face.

It was during one of these lunch dates that the guys had gotten to the restaurant first, and were sitting across from each other, so when Sara and Laurel joined them, Sara immediately sat down next to Leonard and snuggled into his side- something that Laurel noted was out of character for her sister, and Leonard apparently- meaning that Laurel had to sit next to Mick. This would have been fine if the second she sat down Sara and Leonard hadn't gotten back up and left Laurel and Mick alone together.

"What the hell are they doing?" Laurel snapped as she watched her sister and her soon-to-be brother-in-law hurry away from the table.

"Going to make out. Leaving us alone to get to know each other better. Take your pick." Mick said with a shrug of indifference.

"What, then, is the point of the four of us meeting for lunch to go over what was planned today if they run off?" Laurel questioned as she half turned to look at the arsonist.

"Again... they could be leaving us along to get to know each other better." Mick said with a bored roll of his eyes.

"I have no intention of getting to know you better Arsonist. At least not past the fact that you are a criminal, and that I have to put up with you because your best friend is marrying my baby sister." Laurel said in a hard whisper.

"Right back at ya ADA Lance." Mick said with a mock salute.

Laurel turned away from Mick with a huff. He was infuriating. And there was a chance that she was going to be left with the check. Picking up the menu, Laurel tried to ignore the feeling of being watched. She didn't need to be an ex-member of the League of Assassins like both Sara and Oliver to know that Mick was staring at her. But after a good few minutes of trying and failing to ignore the staring, Laurel slammed her menu down and turned to glare at the man next to her.

"Will you stop staring at me!?" She asked.

"I don't see it." Mick commented.

"See what?" Laurel questioned.

"How you and Blondie can be sisters. You look nothing alike and your personalities are so different." Mick replied scooting closer to her, invading her personal space.

"What are you doing now?" Laurel snapped as she leaned away from him.

"Testing your reflexes. They are nothing like Blondie's." Mick said before sitting back.

Laurel glared at Mick. Who the hell was he to compare her and Sara? Laurel was well aware of the differences between herself and her sister, she didn't need some criminal that she didn't even know commenting on the differences. It wasn't his place and Laurel wasn't going to take this. Grabbing her jacket off of the seat, which she had placed between her and Mick to give them each their own space, and standing up, Laurel gave Mick a hard look. It didn't take the arsonist too long to look up and match her gaze.

"Where do you think _you_ are going?" Mick asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"I'm going home. If Sara and Leonard can just up and leave us, then I can up and leave too. Goodbye." Laurel said definitively before turning on her heel and walking away.

Mick watched as Laurel walked away from him. He was amazed that she wasn't going to stick around to see if Sara and Leonard would come back. He honestly thought that she would, just so she wouldn't be rude to Sara. But there she was, walking away, and Mick couldn't help but stare at her ass as she did so.

Not knowing what else to do, but being hungry all the same, Mick stayed where he was and ordered himself some lunch. It wasn't until his food was arriving that Sara and Leonard came back, surprisingly with Laurel right behind them. As the couple sat down across from him, and Laurel retook her seat next to him, Mick leaned back in the booth and place an arm along the back, behind Laurel, and glared at his best friends.

"What exactly, did you two think would be accomplished by leaving so suddenly?" Mick asked.

"We thought you and Laurel could use some bonding time." Sara replied with a shrug before reaching across the table and snatching a fry from Mick's plate.

"Well, that didn't happen." Laurel said bitterly.

"Something had to have happened, or you wouldn't have left." Leonard pointed out.

"I left because as soon as Sara and I got here, you two took off. Mr. Pyromaniac over here and I argued and I left. That isn't bonding." Laurel snapped.

"It is for two people who are basically going to be family soon." Sara replied.

"No Sara, no it's not." Laurel said before eyeing Mick's place, and feeling her stomach rumble.

"You want half Canary?" Mick asked motioning to the half of his burger that he hadn't touched yet since cutting the burger in half.

"No thank you." Laurel said politely before turning to glare at Sara. Did the younger Lance really have to tell these criminals about Laurel's nighttime job?

"Eat something Laurel." Sara demanded.

"I'm going to. I just don't want half of a burger." Laurel snapped back.

"Then order yourself a burger, cut it in half and give half of it to Mick and eat the half that he's offering you." Sara argued.

"I don't want a burger, period!" Laurel shot back.

"Then eat half of Mick's burger and give him half of whatever you _do_ want." Sara said.

"Sara... I don't want half of Mick's burger, and I don't want a burger at all. Stop trying to force whatever you and Leonard are wanting to happen between me and Mick." Laurel said before standing up and leaving again.

"She's right you know." Mick commented after he was sure that Laurel was out of earshot.

"Right about what Mick?" Leonard asked.

"Right about needing to stop forcing us to be something we aren't. We will be there for the two of you at your wedding. We can even set aside our differences for the ceremony and reception and maybe even enjoy the party, but if you keep forcing us together, we will only be at the wedding out of obligation, and not because we want you two to be happy." Mick explained as he went back to eating his food, eventually asking for an extra order of fries and a to-go box for the other half of the burger.

Sara and Leonard were mostly quiet for the rest of the meal. They hadn't been trying to force something between Mick and Laurel, at least not intentionally. But they had, and now Laurel was upset, and Mick was seemingly disappointed, with them. Once Mick had left with his remaining food in a to-go box, the couple turned to each other. They had some serious things to discuss.

 **LOT – LATP – LOT**

Mick had no problem locating Laurel once he left the restaurant. Mainly because she hadn't left the parking lot yet. Which was something else that had surprised him. He figured with an argument that intense in public with her sister, that Laurel would have left completely. But she hadn't, and when Mick walked over to her car and knocked on the passenger side window, Mick was even more surprised when she opened the door for him.

"What do you want?" Laurel asked.

"I got the rest of the burger and a full order of fries to-go for you. If you are going to argue with your sister again, you should do it on a full stomach." Mick explained as he got in and handed her the box of food.

"Thank you." Laurel said with a small, but grateful, smile on her face.

"Don't mention it." Mick said before starting to get out.

"By the way... how did you know that I'm the Black Canary?" Laurel asked.

"Well... most of our team already knew. Most of our team knew the rest of Teams Flash and Arrow, Sara just filled us in." Mick said with a shrug as he partially settled back into the passenger seat.

"How did it come about that you didn't know?" Laurel asked.

"An alternate timeline's newspaper headline declared that the Black Canary died in an Iron Heights prison break. When Sara saw that, she let out a blood curtailing scream. Haircut, I mean Raymond, looked horrified, while the rest of the team was merely saddened. Snart and I couldn't figure out why, until Sara calmed down enough to tell us." Mick explained.

"An alternate timeline?" Laurel asked skeptically.

"Yep. And I can't say any more about it. It was a path that could have happened and didn't, nothing more to it." Mick said.

"Is there anything else in this alternative timeline that you can tell me? That's not about me?" Laurel asked.

"No can do Canary. If Rip was here, he'd have my head for telling you what I already have told you." Mick said with a half apologetic smile.

"I understand." Laurel said with a nod.

"Why are you still here?" Mick asked after a moment or two of silence.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, why are you still here? Your argument with Blondie was pretty heated, I figured you would have wanted to hightail it out of here as fast as you could." Mick elaborated.

"I was Sara's ride." Laurel admitted.

"So? Snart can drive her home." Mick said as he settled fully back into the car.

"That is true..." Laurel agreed slowly.

"Do you want to go do something?" Mick asked with a smirk.

"I suppose so. But there isn't much to do around Star City." Laurel said as she put her key in the ignition and turned the car on.

"We could go to Central City and take a walk along the water." Mick suggested.

"Sounds like a plan." Laurel said with a smile before pulling out of her parking spot and heading towards Central City.


	2. Is This a Date?

Laurel and the Phoenix

Chapter 2: Is This a Date?

Laurel hated the drive to Central City but at least this time it was for something but work, being stood up by Oliver Queen or meeting with some of her dad's police friends.

She tuned the radio to a classical music station. She heard a groan from the passenger side of the car. "You have a problem with classical music Mr. Pyro?" Laurel asked laughing. Mick scoffed "this isn't music it's just noise" and tuned it to a station playing old 80's rock music. "Now that's music" he stated smiling. Laurel had always been taught to be kind to her guests so she left it where he put it.

Mick looked over at Laurel. He couldn't deny she was hot. Sara was hot as well but not in the same way. A woman who is this confident and strong and doesn't need to worry about having a man to get her through life. She also didn't take shit. He knew the battles she had faced up to this point and unlike her sister, she had no signs of regret or feeling sorry for herself. She seemed at peace with every choice she had made in life. She didn't need to be a super fighter because she knew how to battle off the field. He also thought about how super-hot she would look in her black leather outfit. He turned his eyes back to the road because things were heating up and it wasn't his heat gun.

Laurel smiled as she noticed Mick turn away. She wished she could look into his baby blue eyes again. They were so deep and full of thought. He was a thinker for sure. A problem solver. He was someone who didn't like to show the world every hand he could play. Leonard had told her that he built the heat gun on his own. Again her thoughts went to those baby blue eyes. She quickly shook that thought out of her head. He was a criminal. She was an ADA looking to move up to DA but dammit his ass looked good in his jeans.

Silence fell over the two of them. It wasn't the awkward type of silence but the kind where two people want to say something but are too nervous to do so. They allowed the silence to continue most of the way to Central. Mick had enough of the quiet. He wasn't used to it. Len talked a million miles a minute whenever they had to drive somewhere. "So ADA I heard your up for a promotion to DA" Mick asked trying to break the stale air. "Yeah the mayor asked me himself. He is really taken with my work and plus the DA has decided he wants to retire and spend more time with his grandkids" Laurel said as she turned off the freeway and headed towards the water front.

Mick leaned back. He thought about how he wouldn't mind getting in trouble if Laurel was the DA prosecuting him. He never did see what Snart saw in blondie. But this bird, she could fly. She swore like a sailor at other drivers and she didn't put up with his shit for a minute. He got slapped for reaching to close to her purse even though he wasn't even going for it. The nice thing though was that he got a quick touch of her ass.

Trying to pretend she didn't feel Mick's hand against her ass and on top of that liking it, Laurel pulled into an open parking spot right at the beach entrance. It was semi-cloudy so that meant less people and for Laurel that sounded like a dream day out. She had to deal with whining people at the office, her dad whining at her about being the black canary, Sara whining at her about all the wedding preparations, both her moms' whining at her, mostly Dinah whining at her about the wedding as well, and on top of that she had to deal with Team Arrow at night. The only bright spot was getting to hang out with Felicity during team arrow time.

Mick got out of the car first and walked around to open the door for Laurel. She smiled and said thank you. It had been a long time since a man had opened a door for her and it felt kind of nice. Oliver never did things like that. He would complain if he had to open his own door. She knew that he had changed from the days they had dated but still, this was nice.

Thinking about Oliver made Laurel think about Sara. She was glad for her little sister but she had hurt her a lot. Sara has put her and their father through so much pain. First she sneaks off with Oliver, with her mom's permission to top it off then when her and Oliver seemed to be reconnecting she strolled back into their lives again. Laurel closed her eyes and counted to ten. She reminded herself she had figured out how to balance things. She only saw Sara and her mother when it had to do with the wedding. Her stepmother was more of a mother to her than her own. She never felt close to Dinah but she can connect with Donna and having Felicity as a sister was awesome. It made her angry again thinking about how Sara seemed to ignore Felicity.

Mick noticed Laurel shiver. He knew it wasn't from the cold but not wanting to pry into her business, he took off his jacket and wrapped it around her anyway. "Thank you" Laurel said smiling. "Hey no problem. Just don't go getting sick on me" Mick said with a scoff and a smile. Laurel laughed. "Shall we take a walk along the water's edge?" Laurel asked casually. Mick nodded and the two headed out onto the beach and followed the water hitting the sand.

Mick contemplated taking Laurel's hand but didn't. He didn't know exactly what "This" was supposed to be so he just stuffed his hands into his pockets and just walked next to her.

Seeing Mick stuff his hands into his pocket made Laurel laugh. Was he ashamed of his hands? I mean they were the hands of a man who knew how to work. The callouses told her that he built things. She also noticed the tiniest of grease stains on his coat. She felt her body temperature rise. She looked towards the ocean to try to calm herself down. This felt like some cheesy scene out of The Little Mermaid but hell, she wanted to jump him and be a part of whatever crazy world he lived in.

"Hey canary, are those some of your friends" Mick said pointing at the seagulls and laughing. "Very funny pyro" Laurel said rolling her eyes with a half-smile on her lips.

Suddenly out of nowhere Mick took off his shirt. Laurel saw the burn marks that crisscrossed his torso. Something in her wanted to follow them with her hand. She watched as he ran in and out of the tide hitting the sand but never actually entering the water.

"Afraid if you went in you would sink like a rock" Laurel said laughing. Mick looked at her and said seriously "I have a fear of water. Len has me do this to get over it but it's not helping. I just feel like a child".

Laurel couldn't believe what she heard. She never thought a man like Mick could fear something as simple as water. She remembered how she had to get over her fear of water too. Her dad would take her hand and they would slowly walk in until the water reached her waist and then walk out. And he did that with her until she felt brave enough to let the water rush over her and after that she loved swimming.

Not fully understanding what was compelling her to do so she took off her shoes and walked over to Mick. Before he could argue she took his hand and walked towards the water. She could feel his grip tighten around her hand but he never pulled away so she just kept on their course. They headed in until the water reached Mick's waist, which unsurprisingly almost covered her whole head. She stood there holding his hand until she felt him relax and then guided him back to the beach. She smiled at him and went and grabbed her shoes.

Mick watched Laurel as she went to get her shoes. Part of him just liked watching her ass as she walked off. The other part of his was seriously thinking about what had happened. No one had ever taken that much time with him, let him be afraid and here she was. She didn't know him at all but yet she helped him. She would've probably helped anybody. That's what separated her from her sister. Sara picked who she was nice too. Who she wanted to help in this world. She had always stayed close to Len, always offered to help him, guide him, hold him, but she never gave him a chance. She never asked if he might need to talk. She just judged him based on his look and his size. They all did. Not Laurel. She might not like him but Mick knew that she wasn't also going to leave him hanging. Laurel ran back over to Mick.

"So, how was that?" she asked with the look of a proud mother in her eyes. Mick smiled and said "I can't believe it, I did it. I walked into the ocean." Laurels eyes beamed with pride as she gave him a hug. "Since we have to be seeing a lot of each other due to the stupid wedding maybe I can help you get over your fear all the way." Laurel said and took his hand. Mick smiled. "I would love that. I am tired of this stupid fear holding me back and it would be something to actually look forward to when it comes to this wedding." Mick said and squeezed her hand.

With that they continued their walk down the beach. Both of them felt very comfortable with the other. It was like they were old friends that just met up again. Mick at one point pushed Laurel into the water and they both laughed. Laurel hadn't felt this free in a long time and neither had Mick.

Later that evening, Laurel and Mick sat and watched the sunset from the hood of her car. Mick loved sunsets, they looked like fire playing across the night sky, and Laurel was just enjoying the peaceful day out. She didn't get many of these and she had never had such a romantic time at the beach with someone, even when she was dating.

Laurel took a look at her phone. She had ignored it all day and there were like 200 text messages from Sara. She didn't even look at them. She didn't care what might the color be on the wall in the reception hall or where one little flower should be placed. Tonight was about her and whatever was happening with Mick. She noticed he was checking his phone as well but also quickly put it away. "Did Len blow up your phone like Sara did mine?" Laurel asked laughing. Mick nodded and said "he wanted all the details of our first date. I can't believe he would jump to a conclusion that we were on a date". Laurel nodded and thought to herself 'is this a date? It has a date feel but nah just two new friends hanging out'. "I didn't even check mine. I figure it's a million texts about her wedding and the stupid little small details she is worried about. If I ever get married I'm going to go in front of a judge, say I do and get the hell out of dodge. I never thought Sara the whole prissy wedding type. Kind of makes me sad" Laurel says with her eyes downcast. "I agree, say I do and go home" Mick said and placed his hand on top of hers. Laurel smiled.

Shaking her head clear and looking at the time Laurel said "I think we better be heading back". Mick shook his head in agreement and jumped down. Reaching his hand up he helped Laurel off the hood and opened her door for her. Thanking him she got in and waited for him to get in as well. Smiling at Mick Laurel reluctantly turned the key to ignition and started the trip back to Star City.

The trip was long and quiet. Neither knew what to say but neither of them wanted the evening to end. Mick kept thinking back to Leonard's words about this being a date. It was a really nice day out with a very beautiful, smart and caring woman but it was far from a date. They were just friends but being more wouldn't really be so bad either.

Mick watched as the signs indicating they were getting closer to his house went by. Damn he thought to himself. I wish the road would just go on forever. He enjoyed listening to the sound of Laurel's breathing and watching her hand tap on the steering wheel every once in a while for no reason.

Laurel couldn't believe how fast they made the trip back. Going there seemed to take forever but the trip back flew by too fast. She was enjoying listening to Mick shuffle in the seat that wasn't made for someone of his build and the way he constantly would glance her way. She secretly wished that the car would break down right here and the night would continue on.

All the wishing in the world didn't stop them from making it back to Star City. Pulling up to Mick's place in Star, being that he also had one in Central, Laurel quietly stopped the car.

They both just sat there not moving or saying anything for a few minutes. Mick finally said "I guess I shall see you around ADA". Laurel smiled and said "hopefully soon pyro". Mick made a sad laugh and opened his door. He was getting out when he leaned over and gave Laurel a quick peck on the cheek then even quicker made a dash for his door.

Laurel watched as Mick waved goodbye and closed his door. She felt her face flush where he pecked her. Smiling Laurel started up the car and reluctantly headed home to deal with her crazy family.

Mick watched as Laurel's car drove away. He closed the curtain, grabbed an ice cold beer from the fridge and flopped down on the couch. "Damn you Len, how did you know we would hit it off?" He said to the empty room. He popped the top of the beer, took a swig and settled in for the night.


	3. A Little White Lie

Laurel and the Phoenix

Chapter 3: A Little White Lie

Laurel took a deep breath as she pulled up to her apartment building. Her cheek was still warm from where Mick had kissed her not 15 minutes ago, and her hands were shaking, from what, Laurel wasn't sure. Once she had parked her car in the underground parking garage, and turned the engine off, Laurel grabbed her phone. She promptly deleted every single message from Sara and sent a single message off to Mick.

 **I'm not telling her the truth, please don't tell Leonard either. – Laurel**

Dropping her phone back into her purse, Laurel grabbed her keys and her jacket and headed inside. It was now or never to face her sister (and probably the rest of her family), and there was nothing that she could do to stall any longer. What she didn't notice, however, was that she wasn't alone in the parking garage. At least not until she was almost to the door that led to the stairwell. Then she heard the footsteps behind her. Slowing her pace and grabbing a can of pepper spray from within her purse, Laurel spun around to face the assailant.

"Woah, hold up Laurel; it's just me!"

Laurel recognized the voice immediately. It was Oliver. Of course it was Oliver. Who else would be stupid enough to hide out in the parking garage and follow the Assistant District Attorney? Dropping the pepper spray back into her purse, Laurel shot a glare at her longtime friend. What the hell was he even doing here? Shouldn't he have been with the team... crap.

"Are you okay Laurel? Felicity tried getting a hold of you, but you didn't answer your phone. John, Thea, me... we were all worried about you." Oliver said as he took a step closer, only for Laurel to take a step back.

"I'm fine Ollie. I was out with a friend. We were in Central City." Laurel said. Technically not a full lie.

"John was right... we should have called Barry to check Central City." Oliver muttered under his breath.

"Look, Ollie, it's been a long day, and I'm exhausted. I still have to go upstairs and confront Sara about a disagreement that we had at lunch today, so right now isn't really the best time. So I'll talk to you later." Laurel said turning back towards the door.

"Laurel, wait." Oliver said quickly.

"What?" Laurel snapped in annoyance.

"What happened between you and Sara at lunch?" Oliver asked.

"It's none of your business Ollie. It's a family matter. Nothing that you need to concern yourself with." Laurel said with a huff. "Now good night." She added before walking away.

' _Why did he always feel the need to butt into my life? Why does Sara feel the need to butt in? Why can't everyone just leave Mick and I alone?'_ Laurel thought to herself as she walked up the one and a half flights of stairs and down the hall to her apartment. _'Mick and I... dammit! Why do Sara and Leonard always have to be right about stuff? It's not like I really hate Mick. It's just his way of life conflicts with my job. How can I be somewhat friends with a man who is known to be a serial arsonist and a thief?'_ Laurel shook her head to try to clear the thoughts, but as soon as her head stopped moving, thoughts of Mick, Mick, Mick settled into her mind. The way his eyes shone when she had helped him at the beach; the way her cheek was still tingling from where he had kissed her goodnight; how her hands were still shaking from having held his hand for a good portion of the afternoon. No, Laurel didn't really hate Mick; she was quickly becoming infatuated with him.

As Laurel went to slide her key into the lock, the door flew open, completely startling her. Looking up, Laurel's eyes landed on Felicity. Apparently the team wasn't out and about if Oliver had met her down in the parking garage and Felicity was in her apartment. But before Laurel could say anything, Felicity lightly pushed her out into the hall and closed the door behind her.

"What's going on Felicity?" Laurel asked.

"You tell me. Sara said the last time she saw or talked to you today that you were alone with Mick Rory?" Felicity questioned.

"Yeah, so? She and Leonard abandoned Mick and I at lunch. I got mad, left, Sara convinced me to go back inside, she and I got into an argument, so I left again. Mick brought me something to eat and then I drove him home to Central City." Laurel explained. _'Why the hell am I lying to Felicity?'_

"That's fine and all, but you were gone most of the day. What else happened that I couldn't get ahold of you?" Felicity asked.

"I met up with another friend in Central City and we hung out at the beach." Laurel said with a shrug.

"I don't believe you, but I know that you'll tell me the truth when you're ready to tell me." Felicity said as she pulled Laurel into a hug.

"Thank you." Laurel murmured.

"Our mothers are both inside." Felicity warned.

"Both of them?" Laurel asked. "And my dad?"

"Yep." Felicity said.

Laurel let out a groan. She appreciated the fact that Felicity considered Dinah to be one of her mother's, even though Dinah was only Felicity's step-dad's ex-wife, but that didn't make the fact that Dinah, Donna and Quentin were all waiting inside of her apartment. Laurel linked her arm with Felicity's and tried to put on a smile. If Felicity's snicker was any indication, she hadn't succeeded. Walking forward, Laurel grabbed the doorknob and twisted it before pushing her front door open and stepping inside. Yes, both of her parents, and her step-mom were there, and Sara was too, but what she wasn't expecting was Leonard to be there. Who the hell let Mr. Icey into her apartment? He wasn't family... not yet, and just because Sara and Felicity had open invitations to enter her home when she wasn't there didn't mean that Leonard had the same invitation.

"Why are ALL of you here?" Laurel asked before she could stop herself.

"We were worried when Felicity said that she couldn't get ahold of you, sweetie." Donna piped up.

"Doesn't mean you all have to converge to my apartment and lay in wait for me to come home. Felicity would have sufficed." Laurel replied.

"Where's Mick? I thought he would be with you." Leonard asked.

"I drove him home after how rude you and Sara were to us at lunch today." Laurel said.

"Which home? Here is Star City, or in Central City?" Leonard asked.

"Central. And what the hell is with the interrogation? This is my apartment, and you were not invited." Laurel snapped.

"Don't talk to him like that!" Sara exclaimed stepping between her sister and fiancé.

"I would really like it if you all left." Laurel said, gripping Felicity's arm to keep her there as an anchor.

"Sweetheart..." Quentin started.

"Please Dad, you can all see that I'm perfectly fine. Now please, just leave." Laurel begged.

"But..." Quentin tried.

"Come one honey, let's go. Laurel's right. This is her home, and while we were all worried, we had no right to just show up here and wait for her to come back. Felicity was the one who couldn't get ahold of Laurel, so we should have just let her be the one to come here and wait, like she had offered to do." Donna said as she placed a hand on her husband's arm.

"Okay." Quentin said with a sigh before taking Donna's hand in his and walking towards the door. "Call if you need anything sweetheart." He added to Laurel.

Dinah gave her daughter a questioning look but soon followed Quentin and Donna out of the apartment. Once their parents were gone, Laurel turned to glare at Sara and Leonard, neither of whom had made any move to leave. Laurel stood her ground and continued to have a glare-off with Sara. When Leonard finally had had enough, he grabbed Sara's hand and led her towards the door. It wasn't until Sara was at the doorway that she stopped and finally said something.

"Just know that Len and I weren't trying to force you and Mick to be anything more than friends. We didn't want you two to have to pretend to get along at our wedding, we wanted it to be an actual friendship of sorts. Did we go about it the wrong way? Probably. Do we regret that we did it? Absolutely not." Sara said before she closed the front door behind her.

Laurel's shoulders fell and she turned to Felicity.

"Am I a horrible person?" Laurel asked.

"Of course not." Felicity said as she pulled her sister into a hug.

"I spent the whole afternoon with Mick." Laurel admitted.

"I kind of figured that out already Laurel. The only other friends you have in Central City are all part of Team Flash. If you had been with any of them, you would have answered your phone." Felicity said with an understanding smile.

"I hate it, but I actually had fun with Mick." Laurel said with a sigh.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Felicity asked.

"Yes... no... I don't know Felicity." Laurel said with another sigh. "Ever since I dropped him off, here in Star City actually, I can't stop thinking about him. I tried to shake my thoughts of him away, but as soon as I stopped, thoughts of him, and only him, settled into my mind." She explained.

"You're scared that you're falling for him, aren't you?" Felicity asked.

"A little. I mean, how would that even work? I'm up for the promotion to become the DA, and he's a known criminal. He's wanted in a few arson cases, but he's the best friend of my sister's fiancé. Who also happens to be a criminal." Laurel said with a groan.

"You know; I think Ray mentioned something in passing about their Captain expunged their records since they helped save the world and all that." Felicity said, giving Laurel a spark of hope.

"Really? That would be great if he had." Laurel said with a bright smile.

"Why don't you call him, and see if it's true." Felicity suggested.

"You know what, I think I will." Laurel said as she pulled her phone out of her purse and dropped said purse onto the coffee table.

 **Don't worry Canary. I don't plan to. He would never let me forget it. – Mick**

Laurel's eyes widened as she read the reply text from Mick. Seeing her whole family in her apartment after having been confronted by Oliver had made Laurel forget that she had even sent Mick a text. Sitting down on the couch, Felicity going to the kitchen to get some glasses and some wine, Laurel smiled at the words that Mick had sent her before she hit the call button. Putting the phone to her ear, Laurel noticed how much her hand was shaking.

" **Please tell me that you made it home without incident."** Mick said as soon as he answered.

"I made it home without incident. But then I was confronted by my friend Oliver, and my whole family was waiting for me in my apartment, and your infuriating best friend was here too." Laurel replied.

" **What did Len want?"** Mick asked.

"He had been expecting me to bring you home with me." Laurel explained.

" **I'm sure he would have loved to rub that in my face. Being at your place and have you and I show up together."** Mick said with an annoyed huff.

"Hey, I have something to ask you." Laurel said.

" **Ask away Canary."** Mick replied.

"Did Captain Hunter really expunge yours and Len's criminal records for helping save the world from Savage?" Laurel asked.

Mick didn't respond right away, and Laurel got concerned that the line had gone dead or that Mick had hung up. Pulling the phone away slightly to look at the screen, Laurel let out a small sigh seeing that the call was still connected, but then why wasn't Mick responding? Putting the phone back to her ear, Laurel waited. Was the mission that Mick and Sara and Len had been recruited for not something that Mick liked to talk about? What had happened on that mission? Other than the relationship that had blossomed between Sara and Len, that is.

" **Yes."** Mick finally replied.

"I'm sorry Mick, I didn't mean to upset you." Laurel said.

" **It's not you Laurel. There are things about the mission that were really bad, and I don't feel like my record should have been expunged."** Mick explained vaguely.

"What happened?" Laurel asked.

" **It's not really something that should be explained, or could be properly explained, over the phone. I'll tell you the next time we are dragged to lunch or dinner with Killer and Klepto."** Mick said.

"Mick, I'm not going to make you talk about it if you don't want to." Laurel said quickly.

" **I want you to know. I want you to make a well informed decision on whether or not I'm worth your time."** Mick said with a sincerity that touched Laurel's heart.

"Only if you're 100% sure about this." Laurel replied.

" **I've never been more sure about anything than I am about this. Sara and Len know, so do the rest of the team. I know you are friends with most, if not all, of my teammates, so I don't want them to have to keep a secret from you on my behalf."** Mick explained.

"Okay. Then I guess I'll talk to you later." Laurel said.

" **Talk to you later."** Mick said before he ended the call.

By the time that Laurel put her phone down, Felicity had rejoined her in the living room and was handing her a glass of wine. Despite taking it with a thankful smile, Laurel didn't take a sip. Her mind was circling with thoughts of what could have happened that Mick couldn't tell her over the phone. He had told her that afternoon that he couldn't tell her about the timeline, at least not the alternative timeline where she ended up being killed, but she assumed that he wouldn't be able to tell her anything about the timeline in general. Lord knows that Sara hadn't told her much of anything about the mission that they had been recruited for.

"You okay Laurel?" Felicity asked.

"Yeah, just thinking." Laurel said before taking a small sip of her wine.

 **LOT – LATP – LOT**

Mick let out a sigh as he ended his call with Laurel. He had hoped to keep his undeterminable amount of time as Cronos a secret, but with his feelings (if that's what they were) for Laurel growing – _stupid Snart_ – then he knew he wouldn't be able to keep that part of his time on the mission a secret. Even if he didn't tell her anything else about the mission, she at least had the right to know about his time as a bounty hunter. Tossing his phone onto his couch, Mick turned around and punch the wall. He hated this. He wanted to keep Laurel safe from the fire that raged inside him. How could he do that if he felt the need to tell Laurel the truth? If he burned, he was not wanting to take Laurel down with him. She had so much more to live for.

There was a beep coming from his watch and Mick rolled his eyes. Why he still had the stupid thing, Mick had no idea. He hadn't really liked (or agreed) with the plan when Rip had suggested he take the watch, but Mick hadn't had a choice. Besides, Mick knew more about the temporal zone than anyone else on the team, one of the only upsides to his time as a bounty hunter, but that didn't mean that he knew anything more than Rip did. Rip was a Time Master; Mick was a former bounty hunter. Time Masters knew more about time travel than bounty hunters did, so why the hell was Rip contacting him now.

"What the hell do you want Hunter?" Mick asked after initiating the communication.

" _Are you really thinking of informing Ms. Lance of aspects of our mission?"_ Rip asked.

"What's it to you Hunter? I ain't a member of your team any more... none of us are. And our former bosses ain't in control of our actions now, so you have no reason, or right, to worry and wonder about what we do with our lives." Mick snapped.

" _Mr. Rory, do I need to remind you..._ " Rip started to say, but Mick cut him off.

"I know enough about your precious timeline to know that even if I do tell Laurel about MY time as Cronos that it ain't going to ruin anything." Mick said before ending the call and ripping the watch off of his wrist and tossed it into the fireplace.

Mick was not going to give Rip a chance to contact him again. Mick owed the Brit nothing. Grabbing his Heat Gun, Mick started a fire around the damn watch. He was going to tell Laurel about himself and Rip had no say in that matter. It was just about Mick and Laurel. Only Mick and Laurel. Just Laurel... Laurel, Laurel, Laurel. Everything he did from here on out was going to be for Laurel. _His_ Canary. Len could have Sara. Mick was starting to think he got the better end of the deal with getting Laurel. Grabbing his phone off the couch, Mick sent a text to Laurel before heading off to bed.

 **Goodnight my beautiful Canary. - Mick**


	4. Learning About Yourself

Laurel and the Phoenix

Chapter 4: Learning About Yourself

Laurel's phone beeped. She looked down and it was from Mick. She quickly put down the glass of wine she was milking and picked up her phone. " **Goodnight my beautiful Canary - Mick** ". Laurel re-read those words a million times. Each time her heart felt heavier and heavier. Those few words touched her soul in a way that nothing ever had before. She finally placed her phone on the table, picked up the wine glass and downed the whole thing in one gulp.

Felicity watched as Laurel took down the whole glass of wine. Something was weighing heavy on her mind. She had to get her sister to talk or she might explode. She knew it had to do with the text she just got which meant it had something to do with Mr. Pyro. Felicity took out her phone and texted her mother " **Mom, need backup, Laurel is in need of some serious intervention. Also, don't bring dad or Dinah. Love, Felicity** " and hit send. Her mom sent back a winky face and a quick " **oh god, be right there** ". Felicity sighed and watched as Laurel took down another glass of wine. _'She is going to kill me for this if she doesn't get alcohol poisoning first.'_ Felicity thought and waited for her mother to get there.

Donna got herself together and letting Quentin know that she was going out for a bit, Quentin tried to find out what was going on so late at night, but she just kissed him on to forehead and hurried back to Laurel's apartment. Knocking she felt all her mom senses go off. Something was wrong. She knew that from the text but now she really knew it. The minute Felicity opened the door Donna threw her arms around her. Peeking over her shoulder Donna noticed that Laurel wasn't even paying any attention to the door at all. "She didn't even hear the knock" Felicity whispered to her mom.

Donna slowly walked over to Laurel and sat down. Putting her arm around her step-daughter she pulled Laurel closer to her. Finally, Laurel noticed Donna's presence. "Mom, what're you doing here?" Laurel asked confused. "My mom senses went off and I rushed over here. Now what's wrong and why are we downing glasses of wine?" Donna asked worried.

Laurel looked at her step-mom. She felt bad for earlier in the evening. At least when it came to her step-mom and her dad, everyone else, especially Sara and Mr. Icey deserved what they got. "Can we have a girl chat and it stays between the three of us?" Laurel asked cautiously. Both Felicity and Donna nodded and they settled in for some deep conversation, without the wine. Donna had put that away and brought out water.

Sighing at the loss of wine Laurel took a deep breath. It would take a miracle for the three of them to make it through this conversation without someone needing wine and that someone mostly being her. She didn't know where to begin so she just figured she would explain it all and go with it.

Felicity had sat down on the other side of her and was waiting patiently. Taking a breath Laurel said "So yesterday, after Sara and Leonard tried to play matchmaker at lunch, which royally pissed both Mick and I off because at that point neither of could care if the other was alive or not, Mick and I took a drive out to Central. We drove out to the beach and had a nice time. He was a real gentleman." Laurel blushed and both Felicity and her mom shared a smile. They hadn't seen Laurel this happy for quite some time. Laurel shook herself out of the memory and continued.

"I started him on the path to conquer his fear of the water, just like dad had helped me conquer mine, and then we walked the whole length of the beach. We watched the sunset from the hood of my car and then I drove him to his house here in Star. He pecked me on the cheek goodnight and he texted me this" Laurel showed her mom and sister the text from Mick and they both swooned at the same time. Laurel flushed again and said "now I'm wondering if it was a date or if I'm making too much of this? I don't want to rush in because last time I did that I fell hard. And on top of all the stuff with Mick I'm more upset than ever with Sara. She doesn't seem to care at all that she is driving me up the wall. Her and my mom are doing it again to me. They just think they can string me along and make all shots of huge decisions and then assume that I'm ok with them." Laurel finished looking for the wine but only found water. Keeping her temper down she drank some water.

Felicity and Donna looked sadly at Laurel. They both knew they couldn't fix what had broken between Laurel, Sara and Dinah but they could be supportive. So giving her mom the cue to go first, Felicity excused herself to the kitchen where she put on some water to make pasta for something to eat as a late night snack and then sat back down.

Donna took a deep breath and looked her step-daughter straight in the eyes. "Let's start with Dinah and Sara. I know that what they've done to you can never be fixed. They can never fully make up for what the two did with Oliver. The fact that Dinah took part in that is a mystery to me. But, your sister is getting married. You need to be there to support her, not for her but for yourself. If you don't you will forever live with that guilt and that wouldn't be fair to you. So, at least through the wedding, play nice with Sara and Leonard." Donna said and hugged Laurel.

Laurel hugged her step-mom back. She was right. She had to do this for herself not for Sara. She was done doing things for Sara. Today, no yesterday, since it was after midnight at this point, started her revolution to be happy and not be snared by her sister's ability to make herself the main focus of everything in Laurel's life. "Thanks Donna. That really helps and I will just be supportive from a distance. I don't think I want to be part of the planning anymore. Those two seem to be doing ok on their own without us really needing to be there and Sara just asks me my opinions out of feigned guilt." Laurel said and hugged her step-mom tightly.

"Now my dear let us get to this Mick Rory thing" Donna said smiling noticing the moment she said his name her step-daughter blushed a scarlet red but also gained this beautiful glow to her cheeks. Felicity has that same glow anytime you mention Oliver. She was so happy her daughters were finally finding their own way to happiness like she had with Quentin.

Laurel watched the emotions play across her step-mom's face. She loved seeing her happy. "I don't know what to say. He brought out this happiness in me that I didn't know was there. The time we spent together was short but it felt like we had known each other for a long time. He treated me so kindly. He cared what I wanted to do and what I didn't want to do. He didn't push for anything. When I left his house I couldn't think of anything else but him and when I received the text from him, my heart aches even more. I'm afraid to let myself fall like this again. I am falling even harder than I ever did with Oliver and it's scaring the hell out of me." Laurel said burying her face in her hands. Saying it out loud just made it real and that scared her.

Donna took Laurel in her arms and said "baby that's what true love does. It makes us happy, sad but above else scared. Because once you truly fall in love, you worry every second of everyday that you're going to lose that love. It's not as black and white as the movies make it out to be. Being scared means that you're being honest with yourself. You're falling in love with Mick and you're scared he doesn't feel the same way. You're also scared because he might feel the same way and that means you might become more. Never look down on that feeling. When the time is right, you and Mick will figure this all out."

Felicity hugged her sister from behind. "That's right. Look at the mess I'm in and I wouldn't trade it for the world. Oliver and I may fight but we love each other with every fiber of our bodies. No matter what, we will be there for each other. Obviously from Mick's text he is feeling the same way about you that you're feeling for him."

Laurel knew she had to bring up her other worry. Laurel swallowed hard and said "What about the fact I was offered the position of DA? I mean Mick is a known criminal, as is Leonard. Their records have been cleared but people know what they did. I really want this job but I don't want to give up Mick to have it. What should I do?"

Donna and Felicity looked at each other for quite a while and finally Donna said "honey, if you believe that Mick is the right person for you and he will love and care about you, no job is worth giving that up for. But be sure. You don't have to go public. Not yet. Your happiness is all that matters to us, so whatever you decide we will be behind you one hundred percent." Felicity nodded her head in agreement.

Laurel was so grateful she had a step-mom and sister like Donna and Felicity now because her biological ones never showed her this much love and attention. She hugged both of them tightly and ran into the kitchen to take care of the boiling water Felicity had forgotten about. Stirring in some pasta she looked over at her step-mom and sister and smiled. Maybe this thing with Mick wouldn't be so horrible.

 **LOT – LATP – LOT**

Mick was sitting in his living room when the doorbell rang. He answered the door and there was Haircut. Dammit why did he call him. He could've called anybody but him. Ah well what's done is done. "Come in" he grumbled and shut the door after Ray.

Ray looked around Mick's apartment. He was shocked at how clean and tidy his place was. The books were alphabetized and it looked like an interior decorator had put the place together. "Who is your designer" Ray asked trying to start conversation. "I did everything in here myself. I even built the furniture" Mick said grumbling and with that he went and grabbed two beers from the fridge and handed Ray one.

Ray took the beer still in shock over, well, everything. Mick was so much more than they all thought him to be. They should've really taken the time to get to know the real him and not judged him based on first impressions. Mick popped open his beer and took a swig. From that Ray knew whatever he called him here for was important.

"Hey Haircut instead of looking around take a seat" Mick said pointing to the couch. Ray nodded and sat down. Mick took a seat in the recliner. Both men were silent for a few minutes. Mick took another swig of beer and said "you know about relationships don't you"? Ray looked at him. He was positive that Mick would go to Leonard for dating advice but here he was asking him. Ray smiled and said "I know a little. What's going on?" Mick looked at him long and hard and said "this was a bad idea, sorry for bothering you". Ray looked at Mick who looked like the world had just fell on top of him. "Try me Mick" Ray said and sat down his beer. Mick looked over at him and sighed.

"Alright but this is between you and me, you got it?" Mick said. Ray nodded and got a huge grin on his face. Mick groaned but continued "yesterday Len and Sara invited Laurel and I to lunch to try and set us up. Well, we got pissed and left and ended driving out to the Central City beach and having a great day" Mick smiled at those last words. Ray couldn't help but smile at how happy Mick looked. "When we got back to Star, I gave her a peck on the cheek. After that I couldn't stop thinking about her. Then because I forgot I had the stupid communication watch on, Rip contacted me and told me not to tell Laurel about my time as Cronos, well I told him to go to hell and set fire to the damn thing. Those are the charred remains in the fireplace. Laurel is all I care about and I want her to know everything about me before she moves forward" Mick finished and took another swig of beer.

Ray sat silently for a few minutes. He also took a quick look in the fire place and saw the remains of the watch. Mick was serious about Laurel. "Mick, I think you should put all your cards on the table. She has the right to know. But, you also have to get over this feeling of being the only one to blame for that. We all had a hand in them making you Cronos. We didn't trust you. We didn't give you a chance to talk. I truly believe, as do the most of the others, that if we had just tried talking with you during the incident on the pirate ship, things would've worked out better for everyone. Rip needed to be hit big time for what he said to you and hopefully one day someone will hit him for you".

Mick thought about Ray's words. "Maybe I can work through you, Kendra, Carter, Stein and Jax but I will never trust that Rip cared about how his words affected me or that Leonard and Sara cared about anyone but themselves and each other at that point. Leonard betrayed me. I don't even know why I accepted the best man position for his wedding. I don't feel he ever saw me as his best man" Mick said as he put his face in his hands and leaned forward like he was going to be sick.

Ray looked sadly at Mick. He didn't understand how two people with such history could end up here. He didn't understand after all Mick had done for Leonard how Leonard threw him to the side for some girl. He stopped caring about everything but Sara after that day in the hold. He never interacted with Mick the same way again and he seemed to forget who he was, trying to be Sara's "hero". He got up and placed a hand on Mick's shoulder. "Forget about Leonard and Sara focus on you and Laurel, Mick. They chose their path. Obviously their feelings for each other outweigh having feelings for anyone else. You tell Laurel everything from the day you accidentally set that fire at home to the day we got back from our mission. It's time for you to be happy Mick, time to stop pretending to be the dumb lackey to make Leonard look smart and strong and fucking screw anybody who tells you differently" Ray said with another pat on the shoulder and he took a deep swig of his beer making him cough a little but it all felt very good at the moment.

Mick just stared at Ray. He didn't know Haircut had that kind of gusto to him. He watched as Ray took another swig and smiled. He remembered when Leonard and him would have chats over an ice cold beer and laugh and enjoy whatever treasures they acquired that evening. That was until Little Miss Blondie showed up then all Leonard wanted to do was play cards and betray him.

Ray was right though. He had played second fiddle to a man nowhere as strong or as smart as he was. Leonard obviously never cared about the fact that he played dumb to protect him. He would always feel the need to protect that scrawny brat he met in Juvie but now it was his time, his play.

"Hey thanks Haircut, we should definitely do this again, just not in the middle of the night. I like talking with you. Now I have something I need to do" Mick said as he pulled out his cellphone. Ray watched as Mick typed up a message to someone.

Mick re-read the message he had just typed up. **Hey pisshead, I'll be the best man at your dumbshit wedding and I'll pretend to like your blonde piece of ass but I'm no longer your fall guy. I'm not going to take shit from you or anybody else anymore. Oh and by the way, you and Sara were right, Laurel and I got along great yesterday. Thanks for the one and only thing you've ever done for me ice dick.**

 **Your acquaintance, Mick Rory**. Pleased with what he wrote he put in Leonard's number and pushed send. That one action made him feel so much better.

With that he pulled up Laurel's name and sent her a message

 **Hey my beautiful Canary, can we sit down and have a long chat? I want you to know everything about me before you make your final decision about us. I told Leonard we had a great time yesterday and I also called him an ice dick. Have a great night and stay safe.**

 **Your pyro: Mick**

Looking over to Ray, he offered his beer bottle in celebration. The two men clanked their bottles together and spent the rest of the evening laughing and talking about life and where they were going to go from here.


	5. Late Night Conversations

Laurel and the Phoenix

Chapter 5: Late Night Conversations

It had been a long night, and an overall emotionally draining conversation with Felicity and Donna, but Laurel was finally bidding her step-mom and her step-sister good night. With Donna's very different outlook on life and love, the latter being something that Laurel was not sure she was ready to admit to feeling for Mick, it had given her a lot to think about. Despite being the oldest, Laurel had always been the one that seemed to need to go the extra mile to get her mom's approval, where as it was simply handed to Sara. Laurel loved her sister dearly, but there was a level of trust that had been lost between them the second Sara decided to jump into bed with Oliver when he was dating Laurel. And then Laurel lost respect for her mom when, after 5 years of thinking Sara was dead, it was made known that Dinah had seen Sara packing for the trip on the Gambit.

When it came to Laurel, and love, she had always been quick to jump in, and both times, she had gotten her heart broken. With Oliver, he had cheated on her with her own sister, even when Laurel had suggested moving in together. Then he got onto his family's boat, brought Sara with him, and was thought to be dead for 5 years. In those 5 years, Laurel had gotten closer to Tommy, and then with his father's plan to level the Glades, it had ended with Tommy's death. Laurel was left heartbroken again. And in both of those relationships, Laurel had started off with being friends with them. Had known both Oliver and Tommy since they were all kids and had considered both of them to be her best friends. But now with Mick, things were different. She had started off hating him, and had only met him after the Legends team had come back from their mission.

Even 12 hours ago, Laurel had hated Mick. Now after having talked to Felicity and Donna, Laurel was starting to question if maybe she was falling in love with the pyromaniac. It was at that moment that Laurel was reminded of a saying, _'It takes a minute to have a crush on someone; an hour to like someone; and a day to love someone'_. If what Donna had said was true, then it seemed like Laurel had simply skipped the 'crush' and the 'like' stages and had gone straight to the 'love' stage. And that scared her.

As she was changing for bed, Laurel heard her phone go off indicating that she had a text. Pulling her hair into a loose ponytail, Laurel walked out to the living room where she knew she had left her phone, and picked it up from the coffee table. As the screen faded back to black, Laurel briefly caught the sight of Mick's name. With a small smile, Laurel opened the text.

 **Hey my beautiful Canary, can we sit down and have a long chat? I want you to know everything about me before you make your final decision about us. I told Leonard we had a great time yesterday and I also called him an ice dick. Have a great night and stay safe.**

 **Your pyro: Mick**

Despite the slight feeling of dread that came with actually reading the words that Mick had sent her, Laurel couldn't help smiling at the beginning and the end. _'My Beautiful Canary – Your Pyro: Mick'_. It gave whatever was happening between them some kind of depth that Laurel hadn't even fully acknowledged she was looking for. Maybe Mick was feeling the same way that she was. Walking back to her room, Laurel plugged her phone into the charger and crawled into bed, trying to beat down the dread that was building in the pit of her stomach at what Mick had said. That he wanted to have a long chat and that he had told Leonard that they had had a great time the day before.

 **LOT – LATP – LOT**

 _Sara and Leonard's faces were swarming around her. Shouting at her in indiscernible sentences. It was all so confusing. Then their voices became clear._ _ **"You told us you just dropped him off. He said you had a great time. You're a liar! You don't even tell people your first name. You just go by your middle name because your ashamed to share a name with your own mother."**_ _Then Mick was there, shaking his head and looking disappointed. There was a ring of fire surrounding him, and the flames were closing in on him. She tried reaching out to him, shouting his name, but nothing was happening._

 _The scene changed. She was in Iron Heights, standing still in front of Damien Darkk, unable to move as he stepped closer to her, one of Oliver's arrows in hand. Tears were streaming down her face as Darkk taunted her before he stabbed her in the abdomen with the arrow before escaping. She was dying. Screams were tearing from her throat as she tried to get away from the pain, but it was no use. The pain was engulfing her, threatening to end her before she could end it._

 **LOT – LATP – LOT**

Laurel shot up in bed, tears streaming down her cheeks and cries falling from her lips. Reaching for her phone Laurel tried to stop her hand from shaking. She needed... well, in all honesty, she needed Mick. She didn't care that it had been less than a day since they had started to feel something for each other. She didn't care that it could very well be love that she was feeling. She didn't care that if anyone found out that she could lose her job. She needed Mick. And she needed him now.

Not even bothering with a text, just going straight to calling, Laurel was curled up in a ball, rocking back and forth while she listened to the phone ring. As the rings continued, Laurel glanced at the clock. It was almost 2 in the morning, so there was a chance that Mick was asleep, but even so, Laurel silently hoped that he wasn't. By the 6th ring, Laurel was contemplating hanging up when the line was answered.

 **"Laurel, what's wrong?"** Mick answered, sounding more alert than Laurel expected him to be.

"Can you c-c-come o-o-over? I need you." Laurel stuttered while trying to slow the flow of her tears.

 **"I'll be there as soon as I can."** Mick replied, and Laurel could hear him move about and grab his keys.

"Y-y-you know where I live?" Laurel asked.

 **"Sara gave me the address at one point, right after the engagement, just in case they were there, and I was needed for best man stuff."** Mick replied.

"Oh." Was all Laurel could say.

 **"Do you want me to stay on the phone until I get there?"** Mick asked.

"N-n-no. J-j-just knowing y-y-you're on your w-w-way is enough." Laurel said.

 **"Okay, hang in there for me Canary. I'll be there soon."** Mick said before ending the call.

Putting her phone back onto her nightstand, Laurel wrapped her arms around her knees and continued rocking back and forth. The images of her dying were branded into her mind, and only became worse the few times she tried to close her eyes. It felt like forever before Mick's insistent knocking was heard. Slowly getting up, Laurel made her way to her front door. She didn't bother checking to make sure that it was Mick, because who else would be there at 2 in the morning. As soon as she had the door opened wide enough, Mick was inside her apartment and was pulling her into a comforting hug.

"What happened?" Mick asked.

"I had a nightmare..." Laurel muttered into Mick's chest.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" Mick asked

"Not right now. I just want to go back to sleep, but every time I close my eyes, the images from the nightmare come back." Laurel said as she pulled her head back enough to look up at Mick.

"Tell me what you want me to do Laurel. This is all new to me." Mick said.

"Hold me while I sleep." Laurel said in a small voice.

"Are you sure that that's what you want?" Mick asked.

"Yes." Laurel said with a nod.

With that, Mick held Laurel close. He hated seeing her so fragile, and the fact that she had called him after having a nightmare, when not even a day ago she would have probably called her step-sister or someone else that was close to her, proved that she didn't care what state she was in around him. She had said that she needed him, and he was going to do everything he could to protect her when she felt that she needed to be protected.

Leading Mick to her bedroom, Laurel climbed under the covers again before looking up expectantly at Mick. When they had reached her room, he had stopped in the doorway, almost feeling like he was intruding in on her personal space. Seeing Mick standing at her door, and not coming into the room made Laurel nervous. She wasn't sure what was going through his head, and she wasn't sure if she had been too forward about what she needed.

"Mick?" Laurel questioned, and hearing her voice seemed to snap him out of whatever haze he had been in.

"Sorry... this is new territory. No woman has ever invited me into her room before. I kinda feel like I'm intruding or something." Mick admitted.

"You aren't intruding. Not since I asked you to hold me while I slept." Laurel said with a small sigh.

Mick nodded at that and walked over to the bed. He hadn't thought this through, so he hadn't grabbed anything other than his phone, keys and wallet. Looking between Laurel and the bed, Mick simply shrugged his shoulders, toed off his shoes, and pulled his shirt over his head before sitting down and facing Laurel. Laurel watched with an interest she didn't know she had and was biting her lower lip the entire time. Once Mick sat down, Laurel realized that he still had his jeans on, and her eyes darted from his face to his legs and then back up to his face. With a smirk and a raised eyebrow, Mick pulled his jeans off as Laurel pulled the covers back so that Mick could get under them as well.

"Are you going to tell me what this nightmare entailed?" Mick asked in a low voice once he had gotten comfortable and had an arm wrapped protectively around Laurel's waist.

"The first part mostly makes sense to me. It was Sara and Leonard shouting at me that I'm a liar because what I told them is different than what you told Leonard in your text. But then you were there, surrounded by a ring of fire that was engulfing you in the flames, and you were shaking your head at me like you were disappointed. The second part is what really rattled me though. My team and I were in Iron Heights..." Laurel explained, feeling Mick's entire body tense up and pull her even closer. "And we were all kind of just, frozen, as Damien Darhk came at me with one of Oliver's arrows, and he stabbed me in the abdomen with it... and I died." Laurel said, trying to blink the tears away.

"Dammit." Mick muttered under his breath.

"Why Mick? Why would I have a nightmare about that? About something that didn't happen?" Laurel asked as she turned over in Mick's embrace to look him in the eye.

"It did happen Laurel... in the alternate timeline. Do you remember what the headline of the article I told you about yesterday said? Black Canary Dead in Iron Heights Prison Break." Mick said.

"How could the headline have been about the Black Canary? No one accept for my team, Team Flash, your team, and my dad would have known that I was Black Canary, so if anything the headline should have been about me, ADA Laurel Lance, being killed." Laurel tried to reason.

"Laurel... I don't think you're understanding the gravity of the situation. Your subconscious showed you your death from an alternate timeline. The only other person that I know who has seen their death like that is that kid that made mine and Snart's guns, Cisco Ramon." Mick said.

"And that's a bad thing?" Laurel asked.

"Well, from my time with Rip, I can't say that it's a good thing, but that doesn't mean that it's a bad thing. But let's do this... it's been a very long and emotional day, so you need to sleep, and tomorrow is Saturday, so we can call the kid tomorrow and talk to him and Barry. And we can have that conversation that I mentioned in my text, how does that sound?" Mick asked.

"That sounds like a great idea. I just don't know if I'll be able to sleep with the dread that is settling in my stomach in regards to this impending conversation..." Laurel admitted.

"I'll do what I can to help with that." Mick offered as his hand rubbed Laurel's back.

"Thank you Mick." Laurel said with a small smile as she tried to stifle a yawn.

"Close your eyes Canary. I'll still be here when you open them in the morning." Mick urged.

"I'm holding you to that Mick." Laurel said as she closed her eyes and lightly pushed Mick onto his back so that she could use his chest as a pillow.

"You can call me by my full name." Mick whispered.

"Only if you want me to." Laurel mumbled. "And only if you feel comfortable enough to call me by my first name." She added sleepily.

"What's your first name if it isn't Laurel?" Mick asked.

"It's Dinah. I was named after my mom." Laurel admitted as she snuggled closer into Mick's side.

"Dinah and Michael... has a nice ring to it." Mick commented, but didn't get a response.

Looking down at Laurel, Mick felt a small smile cross his face as he took in her sleeping form. Her forehead was still creased from the stress of the day and the terrors that had frightened her earlier in the night, but Mick expected that. What he hadn't expected was how well Laurel would fit against him. He had been telling the truth when he had said that no woman has ever invited him into their room before, and he had never really had flings or relationships before, so Laurel being so trusting of him to let him come into her room, and even more, wanting it to be him that scared her demons away, Mick was grateful, and completely out of his depths. Here was this amazing woman, who was an ADA by day, and a vigilante by most nights, allowing a man that she knew, and had even acknowledged as a known and wanted criminal, into her bed. Mick was going to royally kick himself if he screwed this up.


	6. We Aren't Always What We Seem

Laurel and the Phoenix

Chapter 6: We Aren't Always What We Seem

Laurel woke up uncharacteristically refreshed. She hadn't slept that good in a long time. Stretching, she realized that the other side of the bed was empty though she smiled at the fact she could still smell Mick's cologne.

She sat up and looked around the room. His keys, and cellphone were gone as well as his pants and shirt. 'Damn' she thought to herself. She was used to waking up alone from her days with Oliver but she was hoping this time was different.

'Oh well" she thought to herself turning on her side and looking at the clock which read ten A.M. Laurel started to jump out of bed when she remembered that today was Saturday. Falling back down onto her mattress she sighed.

She was about to go back to sleep when she smelled something delicious. She could smell the delights of scrambled eggs, bacon, strawberry pancakes and freshly squeezed orange juice. She may not be a world class chef but her senses were top notch.

Laurel threw on a robe and headed out to the kitchen. She hoped that someone hadn't told her dad about everything, like her little sister who by now would be spreading wild tales about what her and Mick did while in Central together, and he was there cooking breakfast, like he did whenever Laurel was depressed, because obviously if she was hanging around with Mick that he would've hurt her in some way that needed her daddy.

She didn't want him to know about Mick yet. She wasn't ready for that. He would judge her ability to pick boyfriends. She could hear him in her head _"Laurel, first Queen, a playboy millionaire who treated everyone like dirt and now Rory, a hardened criminal who may or may not have murdered his own family in cold blood."_ Laurel quickly shook her father's voice out of her head. She couldn't deal with that and her own voices. It also pissed her off because when Sara brought Leonard home, her dad welcomed him with open arms, something he had never done when it came to her. Even when she brought home the number one honor student in her class. He found something he didn't like but Sara brings home a criminal and he must be a swell guy to let into the family.

Trying not to pick up one of her beautiful antique vases and through it across the room she allowed herself to once again wonder who was in her kitchen. Thinking she knew, and really hoping that she was right that it wasn't Felicity or Donna because neither of them could cook if their own lives depended on it.

Stepping into the kitchen her mouth dropped open. There was Mick platting the food. He smiled and said "good morning, Dinah." She smiled back and said "good morning Michael." She saw his face light up. He obviously loved hearing someone use his full name. She felt a warmth inside that she never felt with Oliver. She never let Oliver use her first name and they had known each other for years.

Mick pulled out one of the dining room chairs and motioned for her to sit down. She thanked him and took a seat. Standing behind her, he cautiously bent to kiss her on the forehead and when she didn't pull away he went ahead and kissed her.

Still feeling the warmth of Mick's kiss on her forehead she watched him balancing both plates like a seasoned waiter, both of which were completely full. With his magnificent act, Mick brought them their breakfast. He then went back in and brought out a pot of hot coffee and a pitcher of freshly squeezed orange juice. She looked at all the yummy things in front of her and tried not to salivate too much.

Laughing Mick offered her some juice which she took happily. They sat and talked about nonsense, the weather, their favorite animals and more while they ate. She hadn't had a wonderful breakfast like this since she lived at home.

Mick loved the sparkle in her eyes. He never had someone that happy with his cooking. He never had a family that understood him and the damn idiots on the Waverider didn't care either. Even Len passed off his cooking as just something he had earned.

"Dinah, after breakfast I want to tell you everything about me. I want you to know the good, the bad and the ugly. I also want you to hear it from me and no one else and if after you hear it you don't want me around; I will go with no fuss". Mick said seriously and took another bite of breakfast.

Laurel looked at Mick and nodded. She honestly didn't know anything the man in front of her could tell her that would make her push him out of her life. She needed him and she hoped he needed her.

Seeing his hand shaking Laurel put her hand on top of his. She didn't like seeing him like this. They caught each other's gaze and his hand stopped shaking. Laurel smiled happily and took her hand off of his so they could continue eating.

The rest of the breakfast was quiet and even though silent, it wasn't awkward. The two never took their eyes off of each other. It was like they didn't need to talk to understand the vibrations going between them.

Both Laurel and Mick cleared the table and together they both got the dishes done. The way they worked totally in sync with each other made it so much easier and enjoyable. They each poured themselves a cup of victory coffee and went to the couch. Setting his cup on the table, Mick sat down and patting the seat next to him, Laurel sat down and snuggled against his chest. Neither of them moved or said a word for quite some time. Mick finally shifted his weight and decided it was time for this conversation.

Mick cleared his throat and said "Dinah, I have a lot to tell you so I might as well start from the beginning. As you probably well know, I set my house on fire as a kid killing my parents and my sister. But that's not the whole story. I was born with an unnatural attraction to fire as you might say. I needed psychiatric help but neither of my parents believed in psychiatric treatments or diseases and thought that they could help me at home. So one evening when I couldn't settle my mind and sleep, I got up and let myself into the garage. My dad, never really thinking I had a problem, had left out a can of lighter fluid and matches and things went to hell from there. I didn't mean too. I should've ran for help once the fire started but because of my disorder I watched the flames dance against the night sky." Laurel could see the tears forming on the edge of Mick's eyes. That must of been horrible knowing that if his parents had just gotten him the help he needed that would've never happened.

"The only reason I'm not still like that is because of Len. When I met him in juvie and saw the bigger kids picking on him and threatening to kill him something motivated me to take another approach. I saved the scrawny kid and we've been friends ever since". Mick stopped and took in a long breath.

Laurel took his hand in hers. She couldn't believe how much of the truth nobody knew. He was a victim of parents who didn't care enough to seek out help for their son. Her mother had left her out to just fall apart. She even gave her sister the ok to go with Oliver on that boat and cheat with him. She looked at him once again and realized that maybe they weren't so different after all.

Mick took another breath and started again. "You know about all the Central City crap, none of it in which I'm going to apologize for because hell, it was fun. Then came that damn ship. That damn Rip Hunter. That damn blonde airhead you call your sister. Everything was alright until frosty and airhead started flirting with each other. Then all of a sudden I really was just Leonard's second. His shadow. He stopped caring what I was going through or how I was feeling.

Some of that anger and images of fire started flashing in my mind again. I had lost my anchor. I knew we would one day find our own paths but I thought he would have my back like I had his. He didn't.

One day we got attacked by space pirates because captain dumbass flew into a trap. Well anyway, Rip, Jax and I got captured with frosty and airhead cuddling in the ship. While in captivity Rip let me know that he only recruited me because he knew Len wouldn't come without me and that I was as dumb as meat.

Well, I didn't take that very well. I joined the Pirates, always planning on over throwing them once I got to the ship where Len was and that's when the shit hit the fan as they say. No one asked if I had a plan or not, they branded me a trader and Leonard abandoned me in some forest." Again Mick stopped and had to take a deep breath.

Laurel looked up at him sadly. He was also betrayed by someone he thought loved and cared for him just like she was by Sara multiple times. She rubbed his hand and just waited for him to continue.

Mick felt Laurel's touch and felt a lot better. She brought out this need for him to be free of his burden and actually talk about his own feelings. She wasn't judging him. She was listening and cared. She wanted him to be happy. He got nervous. He didn't know if he should let himself trust again like he did with Len. Something in Laurel's eyes made him believe he should.

Again, because it seemed to make him feel better, Mick took in a deep breath and continued. "I waited for a long time for them to come and get me and they never came. I was starving and dying and then I did something that I will regret and that was allowing myself to become a puppet to the Time Masters. They showed me power and the ability to take care of those that did me wrong.

I attacked my friends, I kidnapped Len and promised that I would kill his sister over and over in front of him. I was angry. I forgot my love of fire and allowed revenge to take over. Luckily, Len was able to get through to me and I overcame that.

After that though nothing was the same between Leonard and I. I had gained the knowledge of the Time Masters meaning that the rest of the team found me useful and he had gained his girlfriend. We got along but not like before. Once when we found out what an ass that Rip really could be, it almost felt like old times, fighting alongside each other and planning to get the hell out of a really bad situation but that was it, just talk and we didn't go through with our escape. I've got a feeling his girlfriend came into play.

I wanted you to hear that story from me Dinah. I wanted you to know that I fell to the bottom of a hellish pit and betrayed those around me. There is no excuse. I should've been a lot stronger than that, than the Time Masters". Mick buried his head in his hands waiting for Laurel to throw him out her front door and he wouldn't blame her if she did.

Laurel stayed quiet for some time. She was letting everything Mick just told her sink in. Would he do that to her if they fought and she kicked him out? She shook that thought out of her head. He wouldn't do that. He did that because a ship full of assholes (which was a hard pill to swallow knowing that his teammates were some of her friends) threw him to the wolves and left him. They didn't give him a chance. They didn't ask his side of anything. It was just judging a man for how he looked and what they thought they knew about him, even his so called friend for life, more like someone just looking for a free bodyguard.

Taking Mick's hand in hers and looking him straight in the eyes she said "Michael, I want you to be in my life for a long time. Your past is just that. Some of the choices you made were forced upon you by a whole ship of people who didn't care about you. You were a victim of your parents, of Rip Hunter, of Sara and Leonard. They failed you. You need to realize the blame doesn't rest upon on your shoulders alone. Yes, we have free choice but when no one is there to guide you, losing your way is easy. I've been there. I've fallen. I've gone off the deep end and the only way out was someone putting their hand out and saying I trust you." Putting her hand out Laurel said "Michael Rory I trust you".

The tears streamed down Mick's face as he took Laurel's hand. No one has ever said that to him. No one has ever made him feel like he had the right to hurt or be mad. It was always his fault but not to her. Not to Laurel Lance who less than twenty-four hours ago he couldn't stand. And here they were. Cuddled on her couch and she knows everything about him and isn't running for the hills.

Mick smiled at Laurel and said "now that we have been super feely and gross, shall we go and see what Cisco and the other weirdos at Star Labs have to say about your nightmare?" Laurel nodded and noticed she was still in her robe. Laurel blushed, and ran into her room enjoying Mick's laughter.

Mick just sat on Laurel's couch and waited for her to get dressed. His phone started ringing and Leonard's name popped up on the screen. "Fuck you, Snart." Mick growled and pushed the ignore button. He did that the next three time's Leonard tried. Today was just him and Laurel and nothing else. Nothing else ever. Maybe next time Laurel could come to his town house.

Laurel came out wearing a tank top and shorts. "Looking hot Dinah" Mick said grinning. "You flatter me, Michael" Laurel said and they headed out to his car. This time he was driving. Laurel sat down in the passenger's seat and relaxed. "Do you realize Michael that Central City is where we became such great and close friends?" Laurel asked with a smile. Mick grinned and said "how could I forget Dinah? It was yesterday" and with that he started the engine and once again they headed for Central.


	7. To Know You More

Laurel and the Phoenix

Chapter 7: To Know You More

The drive to STAR Labs was an uneventful one. While their drive to Central City the day before had been tense and slightly awkward, todays drive had more of somber mood to it. Mick was concerned that Laurel might have been effected by the Particle Accelerator explosion a couple years ago, and that her powers might just now be manifesting, but at the same time, no two Metas had the same power. Well... at least not that Mick knew of. But his concerns aside, he just wanted to know that Laurel was okay, physically. Overall, Mick hoped that it was his mention of the alternate time line that had caused Laurel's nightmare, and nothing else.

Laurel, on the other hand, was thinking about what Mick had told her. If he seriously thought that telling her about his past, and how he was responsible for his family's deaths, that she would want nothing to do with him, then there was a lot that they didn't really know about each other. Honestly, Laurel just hoped that she could make a positive impact in his overall negatively lived life. She wanted Mick to be happy, whether that eventually ended up being with her, or with someone else, as long as he was happy, Laurel would be happy. Selfishly thinking though, Laurel knew she would definitely be happier if Mick was happy with her.

Once they got to Central City, and finally pulled into the parking lot of STAR Labs, Laurel glanced over at Mick. He wasn't moving. He was gripping the steering wheel and staring at the building in front of them. Laurel knew, through word of mouth, that Mick wasn't in the best place with Team Flash, having tried a couple times to kill Barry... and having help Leonard abduct Caitlin to get to Barry... and having a small part in Cisco and his brother being abducted as well, but she didn't know if he had ever actually been inside STAR Labs itself, or if that had only ever been Leonard. Reaching over the center console, Laurel placed a hand on top of Mick's and silently urged him to loosen his grip.

"Maybe you should go in yourself. The last time I had any contact with these people, I think it was probably when Lisa, Len and I took Ramon and his brother." Mick said.

"Mick- Michael- look at me." Laurel said softly and just by her voice alone, never mind what she had actually said, Mick glanced over. "I want you in there with me. I told you last night that I need you, and that hasn't changed. I will play referee if they try anything against you." She continued. "And I told you earlier that I trust you, now I need to know if you trust me." She finished.

"More than I knew I could." Mick replied after a couple moments of silently staring into her eyes.

"Then it's settled. You're coming inside with me. But first... you need to release your death grip on the steering wheel Michael." Laurel said with a small smirk.

"I like the sound of that." Mick commented.

"You like the sound of what?" Laurel asked.

"You saying my name; my full name." Mick replied before quickly adding, "Dinah."

"I'm going to be honest with you, I never liked people calling me 'Dinah' because I didn't like sharing a name with my mom, but there's just something about you that makes me feel comfortable enough to let you, and you alone, call me that. My own parents don't even call me by my first name." Laurel said before leaning over and placing a small kiss on Mick's cheek. "Let's get this over with so that we can spend the rest of our Saturday doing whatever we want." She added before pulling away and opening the door.

Taking the key out of the ignition, and grabbing his phone, Mick followed suit and got out of the car. His hands were sweaty, and he was a huge ball of nerves. He had a pretty good idea as to how Team Flash was going to react to his being there, but he really did trust Laurel enough to be the buffer if they tried to get physical with him. With that thought in mind, Mick slowly wrapped an arm around Laurel's waist and pulled her closer. He was falling hard and fast, and Laurel had quickly become his anchor in a time when he desperately needed one, and that scared him. He had opened up to Laurel after only being able to stand being around her for less than a day, and now he was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

 **LOT – LATP – LOT**

The lab was a disaster area. At least it had become one when Barry had run out, nearly knocking both Cisco and Joe over in the process. Of course, he wouldn't have run out if the security alarms were going off like crazy. For some reason, a reason that neither Cisco nor Harry could explain, the camera that faced the main entrance, had gone out, and there was no sign of tampering or an electricity surge that could have shorted it. One second the feed was there, the next it wasn't. So Barry had gone to investigate. The only problem was that he had been helping Caitlin with some serum when the alarms had sounded, and in his rush to go see what was going on, he had dropped the vial that Caitlin had just handed him, and a set of vials had been knocked over.

It wasn't even two seconds later it seemed that Barry was walking back into the room, followed by Laurel Lance and none other than Mick Rory. Seeing who was there, Joe had his gun out and trained on Mick, but after a sharp and quick look from Laurel, he lowered the weapon some. Whatever she had come here for, Mick was there with her, and not the other way around where the pyro had forced her to come here against her will.

"What's all this about?" Cisco asked, motioning with his hands at how close Laurel and Mick were standing to each other.

"I need yours and Caitlin's help." Laurel said, ignoring Cisco's questioning look in Mick's direction.

"That's great and all, but what is Heat Wave doing here?" Cisco asked.

"Listen kid, Laurel needs yours and the good lady doctor's help. I am only here to have a few words with Speedy Gonzalez over there, and because Laurel asked me to come with her. So stop worrying about me, and help her." Mick said and Laurel couldn't help but smile a little at how protective Mick was being, and not knowing if Mick himself knew that he was doing it.

"I resent being called 'kid' but if the Black Canary needs our help, I will help. By the way, how has the Canary Cry been working out for you? I keep meaning to ask whenever we see you, but I keep forgetting." Cisco questioned.

"It works great Cisco, thank you." Laurel said before turning to Caitlin. "I need you to run some tests and see if I might have been effected by the Particle Accelerator explosion." She explained, causing a handful of gasps from the Flash team.

"That happened 2 years ago Laurel, what makes you think that you were effected?" Caitlin asked.

"Well, that's where Cisco's help comes in." Laurel admitted.

"Why don't we go over here to start running those tests." Caitlin said giving Barry and Mick a cautious glance.

As Laurel turned to walk away, Mick had the overwhelming urge to kiss her, as a way of letting her know that he was here for her. Lightly grabbing her hand in his, Mick spun Laurel back towards him and place a small kiss on her cheek. That action alone had Team Flash sputtering as they tried to process just what they were looking at. Mick smirked as Laurel blushed deeply.

"No matter what comes of this, I'm here for you Dinah." Mick whispered.

"Thank you Michael." Laurel whispered back, returning his kiss with one of her own to his cheek before turning and following Caitlin out of the room while Cisco trailed behind, looking between her and Mick.

Mick watched Laurel leave the room, even though she was in the adjoining room, and there was no door, and he could feel Barry's sharp gaze on him, just waiting for Mick to make a wrong move that showed his intentions with Laurel were anything but real. Finally tearing his gaze away from his Canary, Mick met Barry's gaze and folded his arms across his chest.

"You heard that Snart is getting married, right?" Mick asked.

"It came up when I saw him last, yes." Barry said.

"And that his bride-to-be is Laurel's sister, Sara?" Mick questioned.

"He didn't tell me her name, and I didn't pry. But that does explain why you and Laurel are hanging around each other. Am I right to assume, that if Leonard is marrying Sara, that you and Laurel are best man and maid of honor?" Barry asked.

"Yes." Mick replied.

"So what is so wrong with that that you wanted to talk to me?" Barry asked, mimicking Mick's stance and folding his arms.

"Did he invite you to the wedding or not Allen?" Mick asked, quickly getting agitated.

"He might have." Barry replied.

"Look... I'm not here looking for a fight. I'm here for Laurel. She told me that she needs me, and I'm trying to do what I can to be there for her. That might end up meaning that I have to back out of being Snart's best man. Did he invite you to the wedding?" Mick asked again.

"Yes, he invited me. He invited all of us." Barry said with a sigh.

"If between now and then you hear from anyone, specifically me or Laurel, that it's gotten to a point, would you take over the best man spot?" Mick asked.

"That's not really something that you can ask me to do. That's something that Leonard needs to be okay with me doing, and he needs to be the one asking." Barry said.

"Please Barry... I've gotten to the point where if I have to choose between protecting Laurel or losing my oldest friend, I'm going to choose to protect Laurel." Mick said after taking a deep breath.

"What is it with you Rogues and falling for the Lance sisters?" Joe asked with a smirk causing Mick to glance over at him in surprise. Honestly Mick had forgotten that the detective was there.

"Don't know, and I can't speak for Snart." Mick replied with a shrug.

"As I said, Leonard needs to be the one asking me to be his best man if you have to step away. But I will keep an eye out for things seemingly heading south between you and him." Barry agreed.

"Thank you." Mick said with a nod before heading over to see how things were going with Laurel.

 **LOT – LATP – LOT**

Laurel was anxiously waiting for the results of Caitlin's tests while Cisco rambled on about his powers. Honestly Laurel wasn't listening to him right now. She was too nervous and anxious to listen to him. As Caitlin's computer beeped with the results, Mick walked over to the bed Laurel was sitting on and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Okay, your blood work came back normal, you are not a Metahuman. Now, do you want to tell us why you thought you might be one?" Caitlin asked and Laurel glanced at Mick before sighing.

"I had a nightmare last night that was of my death from an alternate timeline. One that Mick had told me about yesterday afternoon. He hadn't given me any details, just what the alternate timeline's headline said, but my nightmare was very vivid and too detailed to be anything other than what happened. When I told Mick about it, he said that the only other person he knew who had seen their death from an alternate timeline was Cisco." Laurel explained.

"There aren't many Metas in Star City, so we came to Metahuman Central, figuring that you guys would know if there have been two Metas with the same power." Mick continued.

"You're not from Star City." Cisco piped up and Mick shot him a glare.

"Not the point." Mick snarled.

"Well, other than Speedsters from other Earths, it seems like no two Metahumans have the same power." Caitlin cut in before Cisco could say anything else that might lead to Mick hitting him.

"So what do you think caused the nightmare?" Laurel asked.

"Was your death averted?" Caitlin asked looking between Laurel and Mick who just shook his head.

"We saw the article after the fact, but when we saw it, Gideon said that it was from an alternate timeline." Mick explained.

"Wait... Gideon? Female AI?" Barry asked coming into the room.

"Yeah, why?" Mick asked.

"Well... at least we know that Eobard Thawne isn't the only person from the future who has access to my AI program." Barry said with a light chuckle.

"Anyway... what probably happened was that your subconscious, after hearing about the headline, supplied you with pieces that would make the most sense, and it just so happened that those pieces ended up being pretty accurate." Caitlin said as she placed a hand on Laurel's shoulder reassuringly.

"Thank you Caitlin." Laurel said with a smile and a sigh of relief before standing up and giving the other woman a hug.

"Any time... just, can you give us some kind of heads up next time if Mr. Rory is going to be with you?" Caitlin asked.

"I'm sitting right here, and its Mick." Mick growled lowly.

"Yeah, I'm not going to call you Mick. You and Snart did abduct me in an attempt to get to Barry. And you abducted Cisco and Dante, so I'm sticking with Mr. Rory." Caitlin bit out.

"Right... about that... if I apologized, would you reconsider?" Mick asked.

"Would it be a genuine apology?" Barry asked.

"Maybe..." Mick trailed off.

"Pass." Caitlin replied.

"Then we will be off." Mick said as he took Laurel's hand in his and started walking out.

"Thank you. Hopefully we'll see you at the wedding." Laurel called over her shoulder as she followed Mick.

As they walked out of STAR Labs, and back to Mick's car, Laurel couldn't help but feel happy and relieved. She wasn't a Metahuman, she just had an overactive imagination. She didn't have to worry about possibly hurting Mick with some unknown powers. Stepping in front of Mick, Laurel threw her arms around Mick's neck in elation. Mick was caught off guard by the action, but quickly recovered and wrapped his arms securely around Laurel's waist. With that task out of the way, their whole day was already feeling lighter than it had started.

They stood there, in the middle of the STAR Labs parking lot, wrapped in each other's arms for a good few minutes before pulling away from each other. Laurel was breathing heavily, the exertion that she had put into giving Mick a hug had her breathless. Mick on the other hand was looking between Laurel's eyes and her lips. As Laurel looked into Mick's eyes and took in the movement they kept making, her heart started to beat just a little bit faster. Mick wanted to kiss her lips. But did she want Mick to kiss her on her lips? They were still getting to know each other, and sure, they had shared small kisses on the cheek and he had kissed her forehead at breakfast that morning, but an actual kiss would bring their relationship up a level.

"Can I kiss you Dinah?" Mick whispered.

"Yes." Laurel breathed out as Mick closed the distance between them.

The kiss wasn't deep and passionate, but light and loving. The entire time their lips were moving against each other, Mick's hold on her body was gentle. It was probably one of the best kisses that Laurel had ever had. She would have given anything for it to continue. But that wasn't the case because it was both Laurel and Mick's phones going off that caused them to pull apart reluctantly.

 **We're having lunch together today in Central City. Meet at Jitters.**

Laurel groaned and rested her head on Mick's chest as he placed a kiss on the top of her head. Well, so much for their plan of doing nothing for the rest of the day.


	8. Breaking Down Fake Walls

Laurel and the Phoenix

Chapter 8: Breaking Down Fake Walls

Leonard and Sara were sitting at a corner table when Laurel and Mick arrived at Jitters. Neither of them looked too thrilled to be there and honestly neither Laurel nor Mick we're excited either.

Mick pulled out a chair for Laurel and waited for her to sit down. He noticed Leonard roll his eyes and smirk. "You got a problem, Snart?" Mick asked growling. Leonard ignored him.

Laurel reached up and placed a hand on Mick's cheek to calm him down. Smiling at her, Mick slumped down in the chair next to Laurel.

Noticing that Sara and Leonard had gotten themselves drinks and weren't offering to get them one Laurel laughed. "What's so funny Laurel?" Sara asked sourly. "Oh nothing, just noticed you're the same selfish little brat you've always been. Invite someone to coffee and get yourself a drink and not even offer to get your big sister one" Laurel said with just as much venom. Sara shifted in her seat but didn't say anything.

It was a good thing Mick was on his best behavior or he would've back handed Sara. "So, what did you two call us out here for? I'm guessing it wasn't just to prove how rude both of you could be" Mick said mocking Leonard's drawl. Leonard got a look of anger on his face but quickly calmed himself down.

Sara sat up and said "I called you here to have a candid conversation about the wedding. Laurel, I'm very disappointed in the lack of enthusiasm your showing as my maid of honor. You never seem to want to help and seem very put off by it. I really should've gone with Kendra. At least she would've acted like she cared".

Laurel rolled her eyes and said "why don't you ask your new sister huh Sara? Is it because you've never liked Felicity? Her and Donna have been more of a family to me then you and mom ever were."

"That's cute Laurel. You always blame your problems on everyone else. It's always my fault or mom's fault, never Laurel's fault" Sara said in a toxic tone.

Mick started to get up. He wasn't going to let Sara sit and bad mouth Laurel but Laurel placed a hand on Mick's shoulder and motioned she wanted to stay. Mick nodded and sat back down.

"And that's another thing, Laurel. You said that nothing happened between you and Mick in Central but then psycho over there texts Len and tells him that you guys had a great time. So what, did you guys fuck or something? Is that why you can't show a little caring for your little sister who is about to marry the most handsome man on the planet?" Sara said and kissed Len.

Laurel's eyes blazed with fire. "You're a fucking bitch, Sara. You know that? I don't care about your stupid wedding because I know the only reason you asked me was out of guilt. You never cared about my feelings. I was always something for you and mom to kick around and laugh at."

The table started to shake and Sara and Leonard's drinks flew across the room hitting the back wall.

"And another thing, you blonde little prick, it's none of your damn business what's going on between Michael and I. And I'm not like you and fuck someone the minute I meet them". Laurel said as the table continued to shake.

Leonard's mouth fell open. No one, not even him, ever had the audacity to call Mick by his full name but here Laurel was. What had happened between these two in the last 24 hours. He also couldn't help but wonder why every time Laurel got angry things shook.

Sara's eyes raged in fury. "How dare you? Yeah ok I slept with your boyfriend but so did every other woman in Starling City. Face it Laurel, Oliver never cared the slightest for you at all. And you've got to face yourself sweetheart, you never liked us because you won't even use the name mom and dad gave you."

Mick didn't know how much more of this bad mouthing of Laurel he could take. That's when Laurel slammed her hands on the table leaving an indent. "I don't use that name because I don't want to be associated with a bitch and her whore of a daughter who would betray a daughter and a sister the way you two did" Laurel shouted in Sara's face.

Sara growled and spat in Laurel's face. "Hey Snart you going to do anything about your dog?" Mick growled. Leonard gave Mick a glaring look and said "don't you dare call Sara that". Mick rolled his eyes at Leonard but didn't make a move.

Sara stood up and pulled on Len's shirt to get him up as well. "Laurel, you're no longer my maid of honor, hell you're not even a fucking bridesmaid. The only reason I'm not dis-inviting you is because dad would be upset if I did that" Sara said spitting at Laurel again and pulled on Leonard to follow her.

"Hey Leonard, you make a damn cute lap dog bro. Count me out as your best man as well because no one talks to Dinah that way and keeps my respect" Mick growled placing his hands on Laurel's shoulders.

Both Sara and Leonard turned around. Leonard couldn't believe that Mick was abandoning him as his best man and Sara couldn't believe Laurel let that psycho use her first name.

"Dammit Laurel, you let him use your first name and not us. Thanks for nothing, I wish you would have just stayed dead" Sara snapped.

Laurel just stared at her sister stunned. Sara clasped her hands over her mouth realizing what had just come out never could be unsaid.

Mick glared at Sara and then wrapping his arm around Laurel, who hadn't moved or said anything, guided her out of the door and to his car.

Mick helped Laurel settle into the car and then he got behind the driver's seat. He knew it was going south and was glad he had his talk with Barry. Laurel would always come first no matter what. He put the keys into the ignition and got away from that shithole of a coffee joint.

 **LOT – LATP – LOT**

Leonard watched as his old friend left. He would have to fix that and quick. He couldn't lose Mick as a friend.

He looked at Sara who was staring out the front door of Jitters. He couldn't understand where all that pent up frustration and anger came from. He also really wanted to know what was going with Laurel and her ability to shake things.

"Sara, baby, do you want to talk" Leonard asked wrapping his coat around her shoulders. Sara shook her head no and said "I need to think Len; I can't believe even in anger I told Laurel I wished she was dead." With that she handed Len his coat back, gave him a kiss and headed out the door.

Leonard watched as his future wife left. He knew they were ok as a couple but was she ok as a person. Damn. He didn't understand this stuff. He put his hands in his pockets and headed out himself.

He headed past where Mick's car used to be, stopping to consider what had broken down between them and then headed to his own. He hated not talking to Mick. He started up the car and headed back to his own place there in Central.

When he got to his place he was greeted by his cat, Scorpion, who he picked up and headed to the kitchen. Grabbing an ice cold beer from the fridge, Leonard and Scorpion plopped down on the couch. Leonard trying to figure out how to fix things with Mick and Scorpion trying to figure out why Leonard hadn't fed him yet.

 **LOT – LATP – LOT**

The staff at Jitters just watched as the group left. They were just happy because usually the whole place gets destroyed and this time it was just one table.

 **LOT – LATP – LOT**

Sara drove out to her favorite quiet spot in Central. It was a secluded beach where the family used to go and spend hours together. Her and Laurel had learned to swim there. She cried as she thought about all the wonderful childhood memories she had with her big sister and how many times Laurel had protected her from others. Sara fell to her knees in the sand. She couldn't believe she just said that to the one person who always had her back. Damn, her sister even travelled to hell to get her back and she just told her to die.

Sara didn't care about the wedding at that moment she just wanted to make things right between her and her big sister. At this point she didn't need maid of honors or bridesmaids, she needed Laurel. Standing up and brushing the tears from her face Sara set out on a mission to reunite herself and her sister. First thing was first though, she was driving to her mom's house. They needed to have an overdue talk about the reality of how they've both mistreated Laurel and possibly having a not very orthodox wedding.

 **LOT – LATP – LOT**

Mick didn't know where to go. He looked over at Laurel who had laid her head against the arm rest and had closed her eyes. Knowing what it was like having someone you trusted say something so malicious you can't even respond, Mick couldn't leave her alone so he decided to head to his townhouse in Star.

On the drive there he replayed everything that just happened. From Laurel and Sara's fight to him no longer being Leonard's best man. He didn't really care about the best man thing because Laurel was his only priority.

Thinking of Laurel made him think about the shaking and that indent she left on the table back at Jitters. He had to admit he was pretty impressed with the indent she left. Who knew that those idiots at Star Labs were wrong. She may not be a meta but she had some sort of powers and she could cause damage. He started to worry that she would harm herself though not knowing how her own powers worked.

Halfway to his place his phone buzzed. Mick glanced at it and to his surprise it was Leonard trying to call him. He pushed the ignore button as not to awake Laurel, and he continued driving. He didn't like fighting with Leonard but he would protect Laurel at any cost. The phone buzzed five more times before he reached his place. Noticing Laurel was still asleep he quietly got out of the car and called Leonard back.

"What do you want?" Mick growled when Leonard picked up. **"I want to know we are good. I know you can't be my best man at the wedding, which makes me depressed in a million ways but I want to know you and I are alright"** Leonard said sadly.

Mick felt bad for the way he had treated his old friend but he was also angry he didn't stand up to Sara for what she said to Laurel.

"You and me are good, for now, and whoever is standing up there with you Len, just remember I'm always your best friend" Mick said feeling pressure release from his chest. "I'm glad Mick and yes, you will always be my best friend and plus maybe you can be scouting the guests for some pretty things for us to snatch after" Len said with a laugh.

The two men talked and laughed for about ten more minutes and said their goodbyes. Putting away his phone, Mick felt a whole lot better inside. He went to the other side of the car where Laurel still was asleep. He watched her for a few minutes and then decided that he should get her inside. Picking her up, he carried her inside. His cat, Subzero met them at the door. Mick reached down, petted the cat and headed up to his bedroom to lay her down. He watched her sleep for a few minutes then picking up Subzero he headed downstairs for a nice cold beer.


	9. Shaking Thoughts

Laurel and the Phoenix

Chapter 9: Shaking Thoughts

Sara was not happy. She was furious, pissed off, and above all else, saddened by her time with Laurel today. Her sister never let anyone in the family, or even their closest family friends, call her Dinah. Even from a young age, from before Sara could even remember, Laurel had never been 'Dinah', she had always been 'Laurel'. Apparently it made it easier for their father, having his wife and oldest daughter having the same name was difficult for the man. As far as Sara was concerned, if she wasn't allowed to call her sister Dinah, then there was no way in hell Mick should be allowed to do so. But that train of thought just wracked Sara's body with guilt. Guilt at the words she had thrown at her older sister in hate. Telling Laurel that she wished she had just stayed dead. That her death had been a fixed point in all possible timelines, if you will.

As those thoughts hit her again, Sara let out a frustrated scream and banged her hands on the steering wheel of her car. And because she and Leonard had gone to Jitters from different places, he wasn't there to calm her down. He wasn't there to talk her through this bout of frustration. And really, if Sara was being honest with herself, she was more frustrated with herself at this particular moment then she was at Laurel. But at that, Sara angrily mused that if Laurel had shown more interest in being Sara's maid of honor, and hadn't thrown herself at Mick, then those words never would have been necessary. So it was Laurel's fault. And she deserved what she got. Sara was going to ask Kendra to be her maid of honor instead, and Laurel could go burn a fiery death with Mick.

Sara shook her head. These thoughts were her. They were her blood lust. She hadn't gotten the cure like Thea had, but she had spent an additional 2 years in the League thanks to stupid Mick being damn Cronos, and that had quelled her blood lust, but hadn't gotten rid of it. And with Leonard by her side, and their unspoken agreement that he would ice her if she ever got too far out of control, her blood lust hadn't risen in quite some time. And now, a (very small) part of Sara was starting to think that that fact wasn't a good one. So upon pulling up in front of her mother's house, she quickly turned off the engine and hurried inside. She needed to talk to someone, and with Leonard at their place, the next best person was her mom. The only problem was that Sara was having a raging internal battle on what she wanted to talk to her mom about.

 **LOT – LATP - LOT**

Laurel woke up with a start and looked around. She had no idea where she was, or how long she had been here, but there was a familiar scent lingering in the air on the sheets. _'That's Mick's cologne.'_ Laurel thought with a sigh. She had to be in Mick's room, at one of his places. Standing up proved to be difficult however since as soon as she did so, she swayed and landed with a thud on the bed. With a huff, Laurel tried standing up again, and while she did sway a little bit, and the room was spinning slightly, she didn't fall back over, which she took as a good sign. As she slowly made her way into the hall, and down the stairs, Laurel started to hear that the TV seemed to be on, but not much else.

By the time that Laurel made it downstairs, she was exhausted. And she had no idea why. But once she reached the living room, she found that her deduction of the TV being on was correct, but Mick wasn't watching TV, he had actually fallen asleep on the couch. And next to him was a beautiful Calico cat who was simply sitting there, staring at the strange woman in the house. Quietly walking over to him, Laurel gently placed her hand on Mick's shoulder, but before she could shake him awake, he bolted up right, jumping away from her. Laurel was startled by this reaction, and her face must have shown it because as soon as Mick looked at her, he quickly pulled her into him.

"I'm sorry. I'm not used to having people over. It won't happen again." Mick muttered in Laurel's ear before pressing a loving kiss to her temple.

"How long have we been here?" Laurel asked.

"A few hours. I figured you probably wanted to get away from Central City, so I drove us back to Star City." Mick said as he rubbed Laurel's back.

"Mick...?" Laurel started to ask before the room started to tremble slightly and she swayed.

"Stay with me Dinah. Focus on me. Focus on my voice." Mick said quickly as he pulled away from the embrace and his hands came up to the sides of Laurel's face and tried to lock eyes with her.

The horrified look on Laurel's face broke Mick's heart. She had to be experiencing some lingering remnants of her outburst from the coffee shop, and he had no idea how to help her. Was this what Snart went through at the beginning of his relationship with Sara whenever she had an episode with her blood lust? Mick wasn't sure, but he wouldn't wish this experience on anyone or their loved ones. _'Where the fuck did that word come from?'_ Mick thought when the term 'loved ones' popped into his head. Was he falling in love with Laurel? He wasn't sure about that either. But then again, he had no idea what love from someone who was pseudo family felt like. Hell, he barely knew what love for someone who was pseudo family felt like. He had Lisa's back at all times when they were on the jobs together, and he would have Snart's as well, if he would stop being a lap dog to his assassin of a bride-to-be.

"Michael... what's happening?" Laurel asked, her voice breaking and pulling Mick out of his thoughts.

"Look at me Dinah. You're going to be fine. Just focus on me. I'm right here." Mick said as soothingly as possible. There was no point in trying to telling her to calm down, because if his time on the Waverider anything, it was to never tell a woman who is freaking out to calm down. Especially if that woman was a Lance.

"Michael, I'm really scared. Everything's shaking." Laurel cried out, her eyes barely focusing in on one thing before they drifted to something else, and never once focusing in on Mick.

Mick was at a loss of what else to do. Talking calmly wasn't helping, and her doubted that if he tried to pull her into a hug that it would work, so he went with the next best thing: kissing her. It was nothing like their first kiss. Whereas that one was slow and sensual and he asked her if he could kiss her before he did so, this was fast and slightly demanding and he didn't have the luxury of asking first. It was a desperate and last ditch effort to get the woman he was starting to possibly fall for to relax enough to stop the trembling of the room around them. And after a moment or two, Laurel started kissing him back and the trembling slowed to a stop. Once it was completely done, Mick pulled away hesitantly, opened his eyes and let out a sigh of relief when he saw Laurel's eyes looking straight back at him.

"Thank you Michael." Laurel whispered as she rested her forehead against his.

"I'll do anything for you Dinah, I hope you know that." Mick replied softly.

"That's what that kiss was for? I thought it was because you couldn't keep your lips to yourself." Laurel said with a small smile.

"Okay... not nice Dinah. Not nice at all. You just freaked out enough that everything started to shake, and your eyes weren't focusing on anything, so I did the only thing that I could think of to get you to relax." Mick said as he pulled away; _his_ Canary didn't get to make snarky-ish jokes like Snart's Canary- that just wasn't fair when the two Canaries were fighting just hours ago.

"Oh come on Mick... I think I deserve at least one bad joke. I just found out this afternoon that my friends were wrong about me having powers. The least I can do to try and cope is make light of the situation." Laurel argued back.

"Make jokes all you want Dinah, just not right after you scared me like that." Mick said with a sigh.

"Hey... I'm sorry. I didn't know that it would scare you so much. Hell, I didn't know how I would feel about it either." Laurel said as she sat down on the end of the couch and curled up.

Mick let out another sigh and looked over at her. Laurel already had her arm stretched out on the armrest, and her head was resting on her arm. As Mick watched her, Laurel's eyes slowly drooped closed and soon enough her breathing evened out, indicating that she was asleep. With a small smile, Mick walked the few steps to Laurel's sleeping form and picked her up. Carrying her back upstairs, Mick laid her back onto his bed before getting ready for bed himself. As he slid under the covers, there was a soft ding from Laurel's phone. Not wanting to snoop, but at the same time wanting to make sure it wasn't something important, Mick reached over Laurel and grabbed the device. It was a text from Laurel's step-sister, Felicity.

 **URGENT! CALL ME BACK! – Felicity**

Mick let out a sigh. It looked like he and Laurel weren't going to get much sleep right now. Putting her phone back down, Mick gently tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear before placing a soft kiss on her cheek.

"Laurel, sweet..." Mick caught himself before he finished calling Laurel 'sweetheart', "I need you to wake up Canary." He finished instead.

"Why?" Laurel mumbled.

"You just got a text from Felicity. She said it was urgent and to call her back." Mick said.

"But I don't want to." Laurel said snuggling further under the covers. "I want to stay here in bed with you." She finished as she scooted closer to him.

"As much as that offer sounds amazing, I really think that you should call her back." Mick said.

"Hmph." Laurel huffed in annoyance as she reluctantly opened her eyes and sat up.

Instead of picking up her phone to call Felicity, Laurel turned to Mick instead. He hadn't moved from where he had been when he had woken her up, so they were pretty close to each other when Laurel turned to him. Tilting her head, Laurel took in the man lying next to her before gently pushing him onto his back and moving to straddle his lap. Mick was silent the entire time, but his eyebrows raised when she moved on top of him. His hands still trailed up her thighs to her hips though.

"What are you doing?" Mick finally questioned as Laurel simply continued to study him.

"Why, of all people, was it Sara and Leonard that thought it would be a good idea to throw us together, when we couldn't even stand each other?" Laurel asked.

"I don't know, but I'm happy that they did. I don't think we would have ever taken that drive to Central City yesterday if it wasn't for them." Mick replied.

"What is it about me that you like so much?" Laurel questioned.

"You're a good person Dinah Lance. Someone who actually sees the good in me and is willing to stand by my side while I shift through all the bad to get to the good. You hated me based on what you had hear about me, but once you actually took the time to get to know the man behind the fires, you stayed. No one, not even Snart and Lisa who have known me for a few decades now, has really, truly done that for me. Since I killed my family in that fire, I've never felt like there was anyone who cared enough to want to get to know me. Then I met you. Sure, I hated your bitchy attitude towards me, but I bade my time, seeing that you could possibly be the person that would change all of that, and while it took my best friend and your sister to really push our buttons enough to get us alone, willingly, I was grateful that I was right to hope." Mick explained.

"I did all that for you in 24 hours?" Laurel asked in astonishment.

"That and more." Mick said with a nod.

"What else have I done for you in the last 24+ hours?" Laurel asked.

"You made me question every feeling that I thought I had lost all those years ago. You aren't just sticking by my side as I find the good in me, you're making me _feel_ again Dinah, and for that, I am truly grateful." Mick replied. "What about you? What is about _me_ that _you_ like so much?" He asked with a smirk.

"Your protectiveness. Your ability to both infuriate me and make me want to be around you even more, at the same time. Your goodness. Your remorsefulness over what led to your family's deaths. The fact that despite everything you have gone through; you are still trying to make up for things that were out of your control." Laurel replied.

"What, not my charming personality? Or my endearing smile?" Mick joked.

"I hadn't notice your so-called charming personality or endearing smile." Laurel replied before leaning down and giving him a small kiss before rolling off him and grabbing her phone.

As Laurel called Felicity, she rolled onto her back and watched Mick get redressed. She gave him a smile when he glanced over at her. Finally, after a handful of rings, Felicity picked up. But Mick chose that moment and sit back down on the bed and lean back against the headboard and to pull Laurel into his lap.

" **Laurel, are you okay?"** Felicity asked.

"I'm fine Felicity. What's wrong?" Laurel asked.

" **Well... Oliver being Mayor and all that, he gets a preview of the next day's headlines, and there's one here about you. How soon can you get here?"** Felicity questioned.

"That depends on where 'here' is Felicity." Laurel replied.

" **The lair."** Felicity said.

"About 5 to 10 minutes, and Mick will be with me." Laurel said as Mick started rubbing circles on her hip with his thumb.

" **That works, just get here safely."** Felicity said before the line went dead.

"I take it we aren't getting any sleep any time soon, are we?" Mick asked.

"Nope. Apparently with Oliver being the Mayor, he gets previews of what the newspapers are going to be printing the next day, and there's a headline about me." Laurel said.

"You don't think it has to do with this afternoon at Jitters, do you?" Mick questioned.

"I don't know. But the only way to find out is to head over there. Do you know where Oliver used to have his mayoral campaign office?" Laurel asked.

"Yep." Mick replied as he stood up, taking Laurel with him before setting her down so that her feet touched the ground.

 **LOT – LATP – LOT**

Felicity was pacing when Laurel and Mick showed up, and Oliver looked grim. From her phone call with her step-sister, Laurel had expected Felicity and Oliver's presences, but what neither she nor Mick expected was for Barry to be there, or Ray. Looking around at her friends, Laurel tried to figure out what the article could possibly say that would cause this kind of reaction, but she came up short, so her eyes settled on Felicity who had finally stopped pacing as was walking straight for her.

"When were you going to tell us that you have powers?" Felicity demanded.

"Uh... tomorrow. I just found out about them today." Laurel said slowly as she glanced over her shoulder at Mick and then back at Felicity. "I had a nightmare last night about my death that Mick had mentioned to me yesterday from an alternate timeline, so we thought that maybe I might have something like Cisco has, but when we went to STAR Labs this morning, Caitlin said I didn't have any powers. Then Sara and Leonard texted us to meet them at Jitters and all hell broke loose." She explained.

"This isn't like anything we've seen before Laurel." Barry piped up.

"What isn't? That everything starts to shake when I'm angry or scared? There are still tons of Metahumans that I'm sure you and your team haven't encountered yet who's powers are just as extreme as mine that you haven't dealt with, but you guys adapt, you always do, what makes me so different?" Laurel asked as things started to shake.

"Dinah..." Mick said softly as he placed his hands on her shoulders like he had done earlier.

"Laurel... is this something that you can say you can control 100%?" Oliver asked.

"Ollie, I just found out about these powers TODAY! How could you even think to ask me that question?" Laurel asked.

"Because, until you can control your powers, you'll be a liability to the team." Oliver said with a sigh.

"Who would replace me? Who would be there to have yours and Thea's and John's backs if I'm sidelined?" Laurel asked, completely devastated.

"That's why I'm here Laurel. You have enough on your plate already, what with Sara's wedding, and whatever is blossoming between you and Mick, and work, and now this. We're trying to help you." Ray said.

"By kicking me off the team? How is that helping me?" Laurel demanded.

"We're willing to help you learn how to control your powers. Caitlin and Cisco and Harry are all really good at what they do. Now that they know what to look for with your blood work and vitals, they'll have a better idea of how your powers work. And Mick, you have a place in Central City, right? You guys could stay there." Barry offered.

"And my job? I'm an Assistant District Attorney here in Star City, it's an hour plus drive from Central to Star City, and there's no way that I can do that twice a day while also being at STAR Labs for however long each day learning about my powers." Laurel said as her eyes traveled from one person to the next before landing on Oliver. "You're going to tell the DA in the morning that I need time off, aren't you?" She accused.

"It's going to be an undetermined amount of paid time off. You can work on smaller cases from Central City, and if you're needed in court here, you'll only make the trip on those days." Oliver said.

"You've all made up your minds, haven't you?" Laurel asked sounding completely defeated.

"We've made up our minds one what we can offer to help you." Felicity replied.

"Mick? What do you think?" Laurel asked as she turned to face him.

"I think that you should do it. You need time away from Star City. Time away from Sara and Leonard. Time away from all of the stress that you are feeling right now. Because, while I don't know anything about your powers, I doubt being bogged down with stress is helping any." Mick said as his hands ran down her arms and took her hands in his. "But whatever you decide, I'm there for you." He finished and noticed a huge grin spread over Ray's face, the smug bastard.

Laurel searched Mick's eyes for a few minutes, not saying anything. She wanted to make sure that he was giving his honest opinion, and whatever she saw in his eyes, it was enough to make her sigh and turn around to face her friends. Laurel looked at each person in the room for a few minutes before she took a deep breath and nodded her head.

"I'll do it." Laurel said. "Now show me that headline." She said as a collective sigh of relief was released from everyone else in the room.


	10. The Truth is a Hard Pill to Swallow

Laurel and the Phoenix

Chapter 10: The Truth is a Hard Pill to Swallow

Dinah was sitting on her couch when her youngest daughter crashed through her front door and into her living room. Sara slumped down next to her mom and laid her head on her mom's lap. She needed a few minutes to process everything. She knew this conversation had to happen. She knew her mom wasn't going to like it and neither was she. Her mom and her had always been close and thinking that she was about to break that hurt but she had to.

"Mom, we have to talk" Sara said sitting up with tears in her eyes. Her mom took her hand and said "I'm listening baby girl".

Sara took a deep breath. "Mom, we have screwed up when it comes to Laurel. She is super mad at me right now and it all stems from the whole thing with Oliver. She doesn't think either one of us love her and now she doesn't even want to be a part of my wedding" Sara said breaking down.

Dinah had shown no emotion until then. It was like Sara breaking down was her cue to actually care. She pulled Sara close to her and said "it's going to be alright baby. Your sister will calm down and I'm sure you've done nothing wrong".

Sara pulled away from her mother and looked her in the face. Now she was mad. Her mom just blatantly proved everything that Laurel was saying. She totally ignored the part about Laurel and her feelings.

"Sara baby, what's wrong?" Dinah asked looking at her daughter with a sad look. "You are mom. Did you even hear what I said about Laurel? Do you even care? My big sister hates me right now because of what we both did to her. Then I go and tell her I wish she would just die making things even worse" Sara said breaking down again.

Dinah looked at her baby girl and tried to hug her but Sara pulled away. "Sara" she started but Sara just looked away. "Where is this coming from baby? I love you so much and I hate to see you hurting right before your big day" Dinah said trying to get Sara to talk to her.

"Listen Sara, your sister will come around and the fact she is acting like a child when she should be acting like an adult is just beyond me. She is just jealous and is taking it out on you. Someone needs to have a long talk with her. I'll talk to her later. You don't worry at all over it". Her mom said reaching out for her again.

Sara stood up and moved to the other chair. She stared daggers at her mother. "Do you have anything to say about Laurel, mom?" Sara asked venomously. Dinah looked at her and said "of course I love your sister" Dinah said nonchalantly.

Sara couldn't believe this. Her mom wasn't worried at all if people saw how little she cared for her eldest. She collapsed back into the chair. This whole time that Laurel had been upset she had reason to be. Sara looked around the living room and gasped when she realized what had always been in front of her. All the pictures were either of her, her mom and her dad; or her and her mom; or just her parents.

Sara couldn't take anymore. She needed answers. "Why isn't Laurel in any of the pictures you show off? Is this the reason she won't use her first name? You know I called her out on that earlier and now I realize I shouldn't have" Sara yelled at her mother.

Dinah looked at Sara in shock. "You're right Sara. I never did really love Laurel. I actually hated her from the day she was born. She was born sickly. She had a bad heart. We were in and out of the hospital constantly. Your dad spent weeks with her in the hospital. I didn't want to go so I made up excuses. To me she was never alive. She was just something that was too weak to make it on her own. I kept wishing whenever he called he would say she was dead but it never came. The happiest day of my life was when I had you and you were healthy and normal. You're my beautiful angel" Dinah said with absolutely no remorse.

Sara sat in her chair absolutely stunned. She was sick to her stomach. Her mother, their mother, had wished her sister had died just because she was sick.

"Did you tell Laurel all this?" Sara asked just having to know if her sister knew or not. "Of course I haven't. I want to stay on good terms with your father and you so I kept it to myself. When I thought you died my world collapsed and it only made sense when you came back into it. When you died again, I didn't know if I was going to survive. Thankfully your sister went and finally did something right and brought you home to me. Honestly, if your sister did die, I don't think it would bother me too much."

Sara couldn't believe what she was hearing. Thinking back to when the team and her went to Laurel's funeral in the other time, she cringed. She had witnessed that her mom was quiet and not very emotional at Laurel's funeral but she chalked it up to shock about her death and her being the Black Canary. Turns out it was her trying not to celebrate the fact she was finally dead.

Sara stood up; put her hand on her mom's shoulder and said "goodbye, mother, forever" and walked out the door and didn't look back.

 **LOT – LATP – LOT**

Dinah watched the door shut behind Sara. This was all Laurel's fault. She had turned her angel against her. She picked up her phone and put together this message

 **To the demon who stole my angel,**

 **You will never be truly happy. People only smile and are nice to you because they feel bad for you. You were supposed to die before my angel came but you didn't. You will pay one day for this you she-demon.**

 **Dinah Lance**

She smiled as she re-read it and pushed send. She would get her baby girl back and make that unnatural thing pay for trying to take her.

 **LOT – LATP – LOT**

Sara had a new mission. A new goal. She would tell her dad and sister what had been said here. She would patch things up with Laurel and she will get the only person she wants as her maid of honor to be just that. With one last look at her mother's house. Sara got out her phone and typed

 **Dear Mother,**

 **Thank you for all the help and support with my wedding but you are no longer a part of the planning stage and/or any other event to do with the wedding. I will let you know if you're still invited to the actual event after speaking to my father and sister.**

 **Your daughter,**

 **Sara**

Sara re-read her message and pressed send. She took in a deep breath. For the first time since arriving at her mother's house she felt some peace. She started up the car and headed to her father's place. She had to talk to him about this, about what her mother had just confessed and about the wedding and Laurel because she no longer could talk to her mother.

 **LOT – LATP – LOT**

Leonard decided he should stop laying around with Scorpion and have a very important conversation with a not so very important person, Barry Allan. Leonard pulled into a space in front of Star Labs. He walked right past the disabled sign not really caring at the moment. He had to talk to Barry and figure this out.

"Hey speedy, you in?" Leonard yelled through the halls. He was about to yell a second time when Barry showed up in front of him.

"Now's not a good time Leonard" Barry said looking behind him. Leonard looked around him but didn't see anything. But before Leonard could say something, the two of them were sitting in a booth at Saints and Sinners.

"Dammit Barry, why did you do that?" Leonard growled. "Well, with Zoom and everything people are little on edge and after the nice visit we had from Mick earlier, the others are kind of on edge" Barry said as nicely as he could. He saw the confusion in Leonard's eyes when he mentioned Mick being there.

Leonard downcast his eyes. He missed hanging out with Mick. He should be having a conversation like this with Mick but instead he gets Barry.

Sighing Leonard said "I need advice Barry". Barry smiled brightly. Not very many people ask him for advice and usually when he gives it things go bad especially for Oliver. "I will help anyway I can" Barry said excitedly.

"Mick refuses to be my best man because Laurel and Sara are in an argument. I need him by my side Barry but I also don't want to say anything to hurt Sara. I love her so much and I can't lose her either" Leonard said putting his forehead on the table.

Barry just stared at him for a few minutes. This must've been exactly why Mick had asked him to be Leonard's best man. He had never seen Leonard like this. He didn't really know what to say but he had to try and help.

"I think you should do something for me, my man, and get Mick to help you, because I think you need to do a job together to get back in sync with the other. It's wonderful how you've both embraced a better lifestyle but it's thieving that brought you two together and I think it's thieving that will bring you back together." Barry said hoping it sounded as good to Leonard as it did to him in his head.

Leonard looked up and smiled. "Thanks Barry I think your right, now can you zoom me back so I can get my car. I have to talk to Sara about something" Leonard said laughing.

Laughing, Barry zoomed them both back to Star Labs. Leonard got into the driver's seat and sat there for a bit. He wondered why Mick had been at Star Labs and why he didn't even come by to see him at his place while he was this close. Slamming his hands on the steering wheel and swearing like a drunken sailor, Leonard started up his car and headed back to his condo. It was about time him and Sara had a little chat.

 **LOT – LATP – LOT**

Sara knocked on her dad's door. She could hear Donna and was glad that she was there. She also heard Felicity and got nervous because usually what Felicity learns, Oliver learns and what Oliver learns she was sure her sister would learn and even though she wanted Laurel to hear everything from her, she was determined to right this very serious wrong right now. Felicity opened the door and gave her a huge hug and pulled her inside. She sat Sara down and went and got a couple of iced teas. Sara thanked her and took a sip.

"Thanks Felicity, that's delicious" Sara said. Felicity smiled. Sara took a deep breath and said "Dad, Donna, Felicity, I need to talk to all of you" Sara said very seriously.

Donna, Felicity and Quentin all looked at each other and Donna and Quentin took a seat. Taking a deep breath and trying not to break down already, Sara told them everything her mother had said. After she was done she allowed herself to breakdown and let Donna hold her close.

Quentin got up and paced the room. Sara could hear him get on the phone but the only thing she heard was "stay away from the girls" and saw his cell phone fly into the room.

"Will you help me with my wedding even though I haven't been that kind to either of you?" Sara asked Donna and Felicity quietly. Donna pulled her in closer and kissed her forehead. "You're one of my little girls, of course I would be honored" Donna said smiling. "Me too" Felicity said smiling. Sara looked at both of them and felt overwhelming joy. Why had she let herself miss out on this? Maybe now she could fix things with Laurel.

Quentin came back in and sat next to Sara. Pulling his daughter into his chest he cried. "Baby you listen to me. You never, ever think that there is any resemblance to what your mom did to your sister and the sisterly spats you two have. Let me talk to Laurel about Dinah, you just worry about fixing whatever it is you two girls are fighting about because two beautiful angels shouldn't be fighting. And always remember you have a third angel to stand by you when you need someone" Quentin said smiling at Felicity. Sara cried harder and nodded her head.

Quentin rubbed her back while Donna ran her hand through her hair. Sara felt at peace for only the second time that day. And just like that her phone rang and it was Leonard's face that popped up. Donna and Quentin moved out of the way and allowed her to answer the phone.

Reluctantly Sara answered. "Hello baby" she said. "Hey beautiful, anyway we can meet at my apartment here in Central and have a small chit-chat?" Leonard asked calmly. Sara didn't like the way he said "chit-chat " but took a deep breath and said "I will be there in a couple hours darling, I'm in Star right now". She could hear Leonard groan and smiled. She loved his groan. "Alright, drive safely baby" Leonard said and hung up.

Sara looked at Quentin and Donna. "Go to your knight" Quentin said and hugged Sara. Sara gave Donna and Felicity both a giant hug and headed out to Central.

 **LOT – LATP – LOT**

 _Two hours later:_

Sara pulled up to Leonard's condo. She loved his place and couldn't wait to move in. They had decided to wait until they were married so they didn't over do things. Taking out her key, she did have a key despite their mutual decision, she went to unlock the door but Leonard swung it open, scooped her up and gave her a deep kiss on the lips. He held her there for several moments before releasing her.

Smiling, Sara asked, "what was that for"? Leonard smiled. "Can't I kiss the most beautiful girl in the world and my future wife hello" he said with a grin. Nodding she kissed him again and with that he carried her into the condo.

Sitting her gently on the couch, Leonard went and got two ice cold beers from the fridge. Handing Sara one, he sat down and pulled Sara against his chest. The two opened their cans, clanked them together and both took that drink they each knew they needed. The last time they saw each other it was super stressful so they knew whatever this was would also be stress filled.

Leonard kissed her temple. She loved the smell of beer on his breath. "Sara, we need to talk" Leonard said seriously. Sara took a big gulp of beer. That sentence was never a good one.

Turning around and looking him straight in the eyes she waited. Taking in a deep breath, Leonard finally said "I don't think I can go through with this wedding if Mick isn't my best man, Sara. He has been through everything with me and it would devastate me if he wasn't by my side". He let the tears fall on to his beer can.

Sara just stared at him. He wanted to postpone their wedding for Mick "Pyro" Rory. She got up and slammed her beer on the table. "So Mick is more important than me" she screamed. Leonard stared at her. "I'm not saying that, I just want time to fix things between him and I before we do the ceremony, that's all" Leonard said trying to calm her down.

Sara took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "Fine. One month but that's it" she said with finality. Leonard growled. Now he was pissed.

"You do realize it's because you and your sister started World War Three that Mick and I are in this situation right? I mean if you would stop being a bitch to her and if she would grow up and be the Big sister, the two of us would have nothing to fight about" Leonard yelled.

Sara slumped into the nearest chair in defeat. She knew that this was indeed her and Laurel's fault. "I'm sorry Len. I know we caused this. I found out today that my mom wished that Laurel had died from infancy just because she was sick. I can't believe I yelled at her for not using our mother's name. How can I tell her Len? How can I tell her our mother wanted her to die?" Sara said falling into Leonard's open arms. He pulled her close and held her tight.

"Sara, I won't postpone the wedding" Len said quietly. "No Leonard, let's wait. Let's wait until both of us can have the person we need standing next to us" Sara whispered back.

Leonard kissed her forehead and the two of them sat huddled together until Len got a phone call. He laid Sara on the couch and went to answer it. He came back a few minutes later, shook her awake and said "I've got something to do baby, I'll be back later" and he kissed her and headed out the door.

Sara watched Len leave with a confused look on her face but decided to let him have his space. She turned over on the couch, thought about Laurel and all that needed fixed and went to sleep.


End file.
